


What If?

by Eicartgeorge



Series: Find My Way Back to You [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Allison has a secret, F/M, Lydia and Stiles are Best Friends, Malia Tate was raised by the Hales, Married Melissa McCall/Sheriff Stilinski, Multi, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski are Brothers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-29
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2018-09-03 02:49:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 70,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8693467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eicartgeorge/pseuds/Eicartgeorge
Summary: This is basically an AU seasons 1-5. Stiles and Lydia have been best friends since they can remember. Stiles is actually good at lacrosse. Melissa and the Sheriff are married. If certain things changed how would that have affected the story? This fic can be read as a stand-alone, even though it's technically part of series. In my story It's Just a Matter of Time, Lydia and Stiles go back in time to try to fix some things, and in the process they messed up the timeline, so when they get back to their own time, everything is different. This is the story of what happened in the new timeline, before their return.





	1. Wolf Moon

**Author's Note:**

> Each chapter is an episode of Teen Wolf. So, the titles will be episode titles.

Scott heard the front door close, a sign that his mother was leaving for work. Two seconds later, someone was barging into his bedroom.

Scott jumped and held the lacrosse stick that he'd been threading, like he was going hit the intruder with it.

"God, I've been waiting for her to leave for like...ever!"

"Stiles! What the hell?!"

"What?" Stiles asked, slightly confused.

Scott lowered the stick and sighed. "Why do you continue coming in without asking? What if I was..." He paused. "Needing privacy."

"Then you would have locked the door." Stiles shrugged. "That's what I do." Scott made a face, as if he was being told too much information. "Anyway, Dad left about 20 minutes ago."

"I know. I heard." Scott stood and sat the lacrosse stick down.

"Well, did you hear why he left?"

"No...Listening in on his calls is what you do best. He always knows when I'm there." Stiles grinned mischievously, and Scott groaned. "Oh no...what happened?"

"They called in all of the Beacon department and even state police. Two joggers found a body in the woods."

"A dead body?" Scott asked with a hint of shock.

Stiles rolled his eyes. "No, a body of water. Yes! A _dead_ body."

"You mean like...murdered?"

"No one knows. Just that it was girl. Probably in her twenties."

Scott thought about what Stiles was saying. "Wait, if they found the body, then what are they looking for?"

"That's the best part." Stiles said giddily. "They only found _half_. Come on, get dressed."

"But," Scott started with a sigh. "Kayce is already asleep and we can't leave her alone. Plus, I was kind of hoping to get a good night's sleep before lacrosse practice tomorrow."

"One, Lydia is already on her way over here to stay with Kayce. And two, tryouts will be fine."

"For _you_ maybe."

"You were on the team last year."

"Yeah, but I sat on the bench the whole time."

"Really? There was that one time that..."Scott shook his head slowly. "No? Oh..." The doorbell rang and Stiles's excitement came back full force. "That's Lydia! Get dressed! We're going!"

Stiles heard him groan in frustration as he bounded down the stairs and swung the front door open.

"So, what's this emergency that you and Scott have to take care of in the middle of the night?" She didn't sound concerned as she walked into the house. Mostly because she knew these boys way too well, and if there had been an actual emergency he wouldn't have sent her a vague text.

"There was half of a body found in the woods." He said with excitement.

"Anyone we know?"

Stiles shrugged. "Don't know yet."

Lydia rolled her eyes and looked up to see Scott coming down the stairs. "Hey, Scott."

"Hey, Lydia." Scott gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I didn't get a 'hey'" Stiles said with mock hurt.

"Your 'hey' was implied." She told him as she started walking toward the kitchen.

"Okay, just make yourself at home!" Stiles called.

"I always do!" She replied from the next room.

"Let's hurry up and get this over with." Scott said, as he walked out the door.

"That's the spirit!" Stiles pumped his fist as he grabbed his keys and followed Scott out the door.

"So," Scott began once he and Stiles were on the road headed toward the preserve. "I know that I've asked you before, but it's been awhile. What's up with you and Lydia?"

"I'll give you the same answer I gave you when you asked me last time. We're friends. I mean...she's my _best_ friend."

"I thought _I_ was your best friend."

"No, you're my brother. There's a difference." Scott raised his eyebrow. Stiles noticed and decided to rephrase. "And by brother, I mean, you were my brother _before_ we were brothers."

"Awe... thanks, man."

"Don't mention it." Stiles hit him on the arm in order to 'man up' their conversation. "But yeah... Lydia? Friends."

"With benefits?"

"No!" Stiles gasped abruptly.

"Whoa, sorry. It's just... you guys flirt...a lot. Like, all the time."

"Yeah, well that's just how we've always acted around each other."

"Have you ever-"

"No." Stiles answered before Scott could finish his sentence.

"-thought about it?"

"Wait, thought about what?"

"Having sex with Lydia."

Stiles scoffed. "I'm a guy! And Lydia's hot. Of course I've _thought_ about it."

"Even when you..."

"DUDE! That is none of your business! Where is this conversation even headed?"

"I don't know, I just think you're secretly in love with each other."

"Well, I mean... I love her. I'm just not in love with her."

Scott nodded. There was silence for a moment before he said, "Have you ever kissed her?"

"I'm done with this." Stiles was pulling over onto the side of the road.

"Wait, why are we stopping here?"

"Dude, if we park where everybody else is, then they're going to find us. The point is to not be noticeable."

Scott sighed. "True." The boys got out and Stiles grabbed the flashlight that he kept in his jeep.

"Come on, this way."

"Do we even know which half of the body we should be looking for?"

"Huh," Stiles said. "No. I didn't think about that."

"And what if whoever killed the body is still out here?"

"Didn't think about that either." Stiles jogged ahead and Scott struggled to keep up, breathing sounding wheezy and coming in short spurts.

"Maybe you should have thought about letting the severe asthmatic hold the flashlight?" He said, reaching for his inhaler.

Stiles suddenly got low to the ground as he saw flashlights search the area. Scott ducked next to him. The lights passed and Stiles quickly stood up. "Come on!" He called to his brother as he took off running.

"Stiles! Wait up!" Scott called as he tripped over himself trying to get off of the ground.

Stiles kept running until he realized he didn't hear anybody behind him. He turned to see where Scott was when he heard loud barking. He whipped back around and jumped, falling to the ground as he backed away from the dog.

"Hold on," Stiles heard his father's voice before he saw him. "This delinquent belongs to me."

"Hey...Dad." Stiles said as he pushed himself off the ground.

"Do you listen in to all my calls?"

"No...not the boring ones."

"Is your brother out here too?"

"Who? Scott?"

"Unless there's another brother I don't know about."

For once, Stiles bit his tongue rather than making a smart remark about his father being with plenty of women in his day. "No, Scott's at home. Someone had to stay with Kayce, and he said he wanted to get a good night's rest before school tomorrow."

"Scott! Are you out there?" Silence. The Sheriff grabbed his son's shoulder and began leading him away. "I'm going to take you back to your car and we're going to talk about something called Invasion of Privacy. What were you thinking?" Stiles tuned out most of what his father was saying on the way back to the jeep. The sheriff sighed as he opened the driver's door for his son. "Just, be safe out there. The roads are wet."

"I will, Dad." He replied and he stepped into the jeep.

"Good. Now go home... straight home." His dad said as he closed the door for his son.

"I will, Dad." He was going to wait in the car for Scott to come find him, but apparently his dad was still suspicious and he was going to make sure Stiles left. Stiles started the jeep and began driving, watching the side mirror and waiting for his father to go back to the search party. He stayed. Stiles thought about turning back around once he had driven so far that he could no longer see the speck that his dad had turned into, but he knew that if he did, the Sheriff would still be there to catch him in a lie. Whether it was the lie that Scott was actually still stuck in the woods, or the lie that Stiles said he was going home.

He came to a stop light and pulled out his phone to text Scott.

_Sorry, buddy. Dad watched me leave, so I couldn't wait. Headed home. Text if you need me._

He hit 'send' and the light turned green. It was only about a 30-45 minute walk home if he took the right shortcut. Scott would be fine.

Stiles sighed and thought back to his and Scott's conversation from earlier. He had never taken time to think about Lydia and him in that way. Sure, they had gotten bored and made out before, but it was strictly platonic. People made out with their best friends all the time, right?

Something told him he may have been wrong about that.

He finally got home and saw Lydia sitting on the couch. Her strawberry blonde hair fell in curls down her shoulders and her green eyes turned to look at who had just walked in.

"Did you find it?"

"Again, with the no 'hey' thing."

"I'm sorry. Let me rephrase. _Hey_ , did you find it?"

Stiles closed the door and shook his head. "No."

"Where's Scott?" She seemed slightly concerned.

"He fell behind. We ran into my dad. Scott was hiding so I covered for him, but then my dad made me leave so I couldn't wait for him. I told him to text if he needed me."

"Should I stick around then?"

Stiles shrugged. "If you want to." He plopped down next to her on the couch. Lydia readjusted so that she was leaning against him and he draped an arm around her. "So, how was she?" He asked and nodded toward the stairs.

"Good. I haven't heard a peep. Besides, you weren't gone for that long." Stiles took a moment to look at Lydia. Really look at her. She was beautiful; he'd always thought so. She was smart and funny. He made her laugh and she made him laugh. They'd made out on occasion. So then why hadn't they given dating a shot?

Lydia's phone buzzed and she looked at the text, blushing and giggling.

"Who are you texting?" Stiles ask teasingly.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She say coyly. She tried to hide her phone, but he saw the name at the top . Aaron. And suddenly, he remembered why they had never giving dating a shot. It was because Lydia Martin could get any guy she wanted, and every single guy she dated was 100 times hotter than Stiles. Why would he even bother trying?

"Who's Aaron? Aaron Gardner? From the lacrosse team?"

She shrugged. "Maybe."

"So what," he went back to teasing her. "Are you guys dating now?"

"We're _talking."_

Stiles made a disgusted noise. "I hate that term 'talking'. You and I are talking right now."

"You're just jealous." She smirked.

"Of what?" He laughed.

"Of me talking to the captain of the lacrosse team."

"And why would I be jealous of that?"

"Because you think that if I get a boyfriend, then I'll stop hanging out with you." He balked. That thought hadn't occurred to him until now. Thanks a lot, Lydia. She turned serious. "Don't worry. You're my best friend. We're Stiles and Lydia. We're Stydia. We're a team. And no guy, or girl, can come between that. Besides," She grabbed his face with one of her hands in a way that made his lips pucker. "I would miss this face too much."

"Stiles?" They heard from the top of the stairs. Stiles looked up at his six year-old sister standing in her nightgown, holding a teddy bear. "I had a bad dream."

He turned to Lydia and stretched. "Big brother duties call." Kayce met Stiles halfway down the stairs and he scooped her up. "Come on, Nugget." He turned back to Lydia. "If I don't see you before you leave, be safe. The roads are wet." He quoted his father.

"Don't worry about me."

"I do." He told her. "You're my best friend. I don't know what I would do without you." He gave her a small smile and finished taking his sister up the stairs and into her room.

* * *

When Scott got home, the house was silent. He turned the lights off downstairs and went to Stiles's room first, praying that the door wasn't locked after what he had learned. The knob turned and he opened the door to see his brother's bed empty. Huh. His jeep had been in the driveway, so where was he? He had a thought and walked to his little sister's room. Scott laughed and pulled out his phone to take a picture of the two of them. Kayce always flip-flopped around a lot in her sleep and what had presumably started with a tiny girl nuzzled up to her big brother, was now big brother with tiny girl's foot pressed into his face. Scott decided he wasn't going to wake him up. The bed was way too small for a guy Stiles's size, which would lead him to being in pain in the morning, and now he had blackmail. This was what he got for leaving Scott stranded out in the woods to get bitten by wild animals.

He went to his mom's medicine cabinet and dressed his wound before going to bed.

"Oh my God!" Stiles yelled as he barged into Scott's room the next morning. Scott, who had been leaning over to grab his book bag, jumped when the door opened.

"Jesus, Stiles!" He clutched his chest.

"Thank the Lord!" Stiles hugged his brother. "Are you alright?" He spoke softly as he took a step back to look at him.

"Well, except for getting bit by a wild animal I'm fine."

"What?! Where?"

"In the woods, dumbass."

Stiles rolled his eyes. "I mean where on your body?"

"My side." Scott said placing a hand over the bite.

"Can I see?"

Scott grabbed the hem of his shirt when Melissa appeared in the doorway. "Hey, boys! Are you getting ready for school?"

"Yes ma'am." Stiles responded.

"Mom, what are you doing home right now? You shouldn't even be off for another hour."

"I left early. I wasn't feeling well."

"Are you okay?" Scott asked with concern.

Melissa laughed. "I'm fine, Scott. Don't worry. You guys should leave, or you'll be late. Remember you have to take Kayce to school today."

"We're on it." Stiles said then saluted. Melissa shook her head and walked away with a smile. He turned back to Scott. "Just show me when we get to school."

The teenagers walked downstairs and their little sister was at the kitchen table.

"Come on, Kayce" Scott addressed his sister, while Stiles grabbed four pieces of toast. Scott turned to him. "Are you seriously eating four?"

"Uhh..."Stiles looked at the toast in his hand. "No?" He sounded unsure."I mean... I got two for you!" He handed two pieces over and Scott looked at him suspiciously before taking them. When Scott turned around, Stiles turned to his little sister and shook his head, mouthing, 'I didn't get them for him.' Kayce giggled and covered her mouth. Scott turned back to them, toast in his mouth. Stiles looked up with raised eyebrows and shrugged as if he didn't know why she was laughing. "Let's go, guys!"

Stiles led his siblings out the door and to the jeep. Scott pulled his seat up so that Kayce could climb into the back and they all piled in.

When they got to Kayce's school, Scott leaned forward so that she could jump out. She had started back the week before, otherwise their parents would've been there.

"Have fun!" Stiles called.

"Don't get into any fights!" Scott added.

"Unless they hit you first, then you defend yourself!"

"Stiles!" Scott scolded him, then turned back to his sister. "No fighting! Use your words."

"And remember, just say 'no'!"

"She's six." Scott told him a creased brow.

"Hey, that is a very shady elementary school."

"It's a private school."

He shook his head. "I don't trust it."

Scott shook his head and turned back to Kayce. "I love you!"

"I love you more!"

Kayce, who had been walking away the entire time, finally turned back to her brothers. "Guys, you're so embarrassing! You're worse than mom and dad."

"Bye!" Stiles called again, before Scott rolled up the window. They stayed in the parking lot until she was inside the school, then drove off. "Kids," Stiles commented. "They grow up so fast."

When the boys got to the high school, they climbed out of the jeep and Stiles turned to his brother. "Okay, let's see it."

Scott looked around and pulled up the hem of his shirt to reveal the large bandage. Stiles made a face. "Yikes! What do you think it was?"

"I think it was a wolf."

"A wolf bit you? That's not possible."

"Well, I heard a wolf howling."

"No you didn't."

"Well, what makes you so sure?"

"Because there haven't been wolves in California in like 60 years."

"Well, if you don't believe me about the wolf, then you're not going to believe me when I tell you that I found the other half of the body."

"What?! Are you kidding me?"

"I wish. I'm going to have nightmares about it for a month."

"This is great! This is seriously the best thing that's happened in this town since-" Stiles looked up and saw his best friend coming their way. Louder, so that she could hear, he said "Since the birth of Lydia Martin!" Lydia linked her arm through Stiles's and kept walking, spinning him around slightly. "Hey, sweet thang, Can I get yo' digits?" He licked his lips playfully.

"Hmm." Lydia pretending to think about it. "Interesting tactic. But I'm gonna pass." She chuckled then turned to look at Scott who was trailing behind them. "So, I see Scott made it back alive."

"Yeah, with a chunk missing out of my side."

"What?"

"He got bit by an animal in the woods." Stiles answered.

"What kind of animal?" Lydia asked.

Stiles stole a glance at Scott before telling her, "He swears it was a wolf."

Lydia shook her head. "There are no wolves in California."

Stiles turned to look at Scott with a cock of his head as if to say 'See?' "That's what I told him."

Scott groaned. "I _heard_ a wolf."

The three of them had first period English together. Lydia sat in the front of one of the rows,Stiles sat behind her, and Scott sat behind him.

"Okay," Mr. Curtis began. "I'm sure you have all heard by now there was indeed a body found in the woods last night. Now, I'm sure you're trying to come up with various macabre scenarios as to how it happened, but I've been told the police have a suspect in custody..."

Lydia turned around to face Stiles who shook his head. He didn't know anything. He turned to Scott. Scott was looking down, until he felt two sets of eyes on him. He looked up and saw Stiles and Lydia both staring at him as if he was supposed to know who this mystery suspect was. He shrugged. "How am I supposed to know that?" He whispered.

Stiles tilted his head and turned to Lydia. "He has a point."

Lydia just rolled her eyes and turned back in her seat to face the front.

Mr. Curtis was telling them to read something so Stiles was doing as he was told. After a few moments a door opened and the principal walked in with a brunette.

"Class, we have a new student. This is Allison Argent. Please make her feel welcome."

The seat on Stiles's right was open, so Allison walked over and sat down there.

"Hi, I'm Lydia." His best friend said as she turned to the new girl.

"Hi." She smiled.

"I'm Stiles."

Scott only held out a pen. Allison quirked an eyebrow and slowly took the pen. "Thanks."

Stiles raised an eyebrow at his brother, then exchanged glances with Lydia. Sometimes his brother was incredibly strange.

* * *

"So, where did you get that jacket?" Lydia asked when she caught up with Allison after school.

"Oh, my aunt was a buyer for a boutique back in San Francisco."

Lydia's eyes widened and a smile slowly formed on her face. "And you are my new best friend."

Allison laughed. "Well, that was easy. And who said making friends was hard?"

Lydia chuckled. "Hey, I'm having a party on Friday. Did you want to come? It's a back to school bash, I throw one every year."

"Oh, um.. I'll have to see. We literally just moved. I've still got boxes that need to be unpacked."

"Look," Lydia said, chuckling again. "I was semi-kidding about the best friend thing. I'm not a crazy person. You don't have to commit to anything, but you'll get to meet a lot of people. Everyone will be there."

Allison smiled. "I'll think about it."

"Good. What are you doing right now?"

"Um, I was going to go home."

"Come to practice with me."

"Practice for what?"

"Lacrosse. A bunch of sweaty, hot guys running around with their shirts off. Not much can be better."

Allison shook her head. "I don't know anything about lacrosse."

"I'll teach you. Come on!"

Allison nodded. "Okay."

Lydia led her out to the field where some of the guys were already starting to warm up. When they sat down on the bleachers she scanned the field so see who all she knew there. She made eye contact with Stiles, who blew her kisses. She 'caught' them and held her hand to her chest. He drew a heart in the air. She flipped him off. He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she just shook her head and laughed.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Allison asked.

"Who? Stiles?" Allison nodded. "Everyone thinks that." Lydia told her as she shook her head. "But no, we've known each other forever. He's my best friend. And since I've been throwing that term around a lot since I met you, he's like my actual best friend. Like best of all best friends"

"Is he gay?" She asked.

"What?!" Lydia cackled. "Oh my God! No...why would you think that, though?"

Allison smiled. "I don't know. In my experience, you can't have a straight male best friend for too long before things get weird. Plus, you guys are both pretty attractive people. I just figured it would have been difficult to stay best friends."

"You know," Lydia began as she looked at Stiles. "You're right. I guess he is kind of cute."

"Kind of?" Allison asked. "In my opinion, he's one of the hottest guys out there."

Lydia raised her eyebrows. "Oh? And who's the other one?"

Allison blushed, as she realized what she had said, and knew that Lydia picked up on it. She sighed. "That one. In the goal. He's in our English class too. He gave me a pen today."

Lydia saw who she was pointing to. "Oh, honey." She said sympathetically.

"What?" Then Allison seemed to understand. "Oh, is _he_ gay?"

Lydia laughed again. "No. He's Stiles's brother."

"What? But they look nothing alike!"

"Well, they're step-brothers. Scott's dad died when he was 6. He was in the FBI and he was killed while on an undercover assignment. Stiles's mom left him and his dad when he was 7, but she passed way about five years back. Scott's mom and Stiles's dad got married almost 8 years ago. The boys have a little sister named Kayce who's six and she's like the cutest thing ever. Oh my God!" Lydia said suddenly and pulled out her phone. "I was over at their house last night and Kayce had a bad dream, so Stiles went to take her back to her room and then he just disappeared for a long time. So I went to make sure everything was okay, and I saw this. " Lydia held out her phone. "Stiles doesn't know I took it yet." The picture was Stiles laying in his sister's pink princess bed, feet dangling off the side, with the little girl curled up against him.

"Oh my goodness!" Allison cooed. "That's adorable."

"Right?" Lydia locked her phone screen and put it away.

"So, they both like kids?"

"Well they both love their sister, that's for sure."

Allison nodded and they turned their attention back to the field. "They both seem like they're really good."

"Yeah," Lydia agreed. "I'm surprised by Scott, though. Last year, he wasn't very good... like at all." Lydia scanned the field again. "Oh! That's Aaron Gardner. He's the team captain."

"Is _he_ your boyfriend?"

"No, he's gay." Lydia deadpanned.

Allison's eyes widened. "Really?"

Lydia chuckled. "No. That was a joke, but his best friend, Danny, is." Lydia pointed him out. "But, the real answer to your question, is still no... he's not my boyfriend... not yetanyway."

Allison nodded before her eyes fell back on Scott and Stiles. "So, brothers, huh?"

"Yep, so I'd be careful about who you pick."

"Oh, I'm not picking anyone. "

"You keep telling yourself that, Sweetheart."

After practice, all of the team members were going back to the locker room.

"Come on," Lydia told Allison. "Let's go wait for them."

"Uh, I guess." Allison shrugged and followed Lydia down the bleachers and inside. They stood outside of the locker room for awhile before anybody came out.

"So," Lydia made conversation while they waited, "You lived in San Francisco before this?"

"I lived a lot of places before this, but San Francisco was the most recent."

"Military family?"

"No, my dad's job mostly."

"Mostly?" Lydia asked, latching onto the word.

Allison's eyes widened. She really needed to be more careful about what she said around this girl. "Oh, um..."

Luckily, it was at that moment that the door to the locker room swung open and guys started filtering out.

"Hey!" Lydia said when she saw the brothers come out, laughing about something.

"Oh my God!" Stiles turned to Scott. "I got a 'hey'!"

Lydia rolled her eyes. "You guys remember Allison, right?"

"Yeah, from this morning." Stiles smiled.

"Stiles, right?" Allison asked him.

"Yep, and this here's my brother, Scott." Stiles grabbed his brother's shoulders. "Scott, you remember Allison, right? You gave her a pen." Stiles quirked his eyebrow. " _Why_ did you give her a pen?"

"She looked like she needed a pen." He said with a shrug.

"Ah, at least we're clear on that."

Suddenly, Aaron Gardner walked out of the locker room with his friend, Danny.

"Hi, Aaron!" Lydia said with a small gasp.

Aaron smiled. "Hey." Then kept walking.

"So, uh..." Stiles started, as he nudged Lydia. "How's _talking_ going with Aaron?"

Lydia sighed. "Well, I thought it was going better than that."

"Awe," He tried to sound sympathetic, but laughed. "Come here." He grabbed her into a hug and she pouted into his chest.

"What did you think of practice?" Scott asked Allison.

"I thought you guys were good...although, I don't know anything about lacrosse, so maybe I'm giving you too much credit." She shrugged.

"Uh," Stiles said with mock attitude and let go of Lydia. "Excuse me, but we are fabulous!"

Allison cocked her and looked at Lydia. "I thought you said he _wasn't_ gay." Lydia and Scott cracked up laughing and Stiles just dropped his mouth in shock. Allison smiled slyly and shrugged.

"I...But...what?" Stiles couldn't form a sentence, and Scott and Lydia were laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Stiles felt his cheeks turn pink and Allison seemed to notice. She tried to stop smiling.

"I'm so sorry." She said sincerely. "I don't know you, that was rude."

"But so funny." Scott told her.

"Awe, Stiles." Lydia ruffled his hair once she realized that he was blushing. "I know you're not gay." Stiles sighed and put his head on her shoulder. Lydia turned back to Allison. "You broke him." She told her as she patted his back.

"I feel really bad." Allison said. "I really am sorry."

"It's okay." Stiles mumbled, never looking up.

"Don't worry." Scott told Allison. "He's just being dramatic."

"Says you." He mumbled to his brother.

"Stiles," Lydia said, with a warning to her voice. "Allison really does feel bad."

"Fine." He sighed and raised his head. "It really is fine. I'm sorry I made you feel bad."

Allison shook her head. "No, I deserved it. Really I don't know you at all and I shouldn't have said it."

"Truce?" He asked sticking out his hand.

Allison looked down and grabbed it and shook. "Truce."

"Alright," Scott said. "As entertaining as that was. We really need to get going." He hit Stiles's arm with the back of his hand.

"Oh, yeah." Stiles said as he let go of Allison's hand.

"Where are you going?" Lydia asked.

"Scott lost his inhaler in the woods last night." Stiles answered. "We have to go look for it before I drop him off at work."

"Lydia, maybe you should come help us, then I can just take the jeep to work and you can take Stiles home."

"Yeah, that's fine." Lydia answered, not seeing the look that Stiles gave to Scott. The one that asked his brother what the hell he was trying to do. "Allison, do you want to come too?"

"Oh," She shook her head. "I really have to get home, but hanging out this afternoon was fun. I really didn't have many friends back in San Francisco."

"Well, then we should all hang out later." Scott suggested.

Allison nodded and smiled. "Definitely. Lydia, I give you permission to give these guys my number."

"Oh, Sweetheart, I was planning on it."

It was Allison's turn to blush. "See you guys tomorrow." Allison walked away and the three remaining friends walked in the opposite direction.

"So, just follow us in your car I guess." Stiles told Lydia.

"Will do."

* * *

Stiles pulled over around where he had the night before and Lydia pulled up behind him.

"So, what do you guys think of Allison?" Lydia asked as they walked away from their vehicles.

"She's nice." Stiles commented.

"And hot." Scott jumped in.

"Oh, totally hot." Stiles agreed.

"Well," Lydia smirked. "I'm glad you think so, because she told me that she thought you two were the hottest guys on the field."

"What?!" They both exclaimed as they stopped and turned to look at her.

"Did I stutter?" She asked them. "She thinks you're both hot." The brothers exchanged glances and then continued walking. "I had to explain to her that she just so happened to to pick two brothers though, so she would have to be careful choosing one."

"Lydia!" Stiles turned to his best friend.

"What?"

"Why would you tell her that?"

"I wanted her to know what she was getting herself into...It doesn't matter though because she told me that she wouldn't be picking either one of you."

"Yeah, because you scared her off." Scott sighed.

"No, I didn't! Look, I'm just saying that she thinks that both of you are hot, so if one of you wants to go after her, you've got a pretty good chance...or if you both want her...you may want to talk about it."

Scott and Stiles exchanged looks again. "I mean..." Scott started. "She's hot, but I don't know anything about her. At the moment I just want to be friends with her."

"Same." Stiles nodded. "But if that changes for either of us...we talk about it, right?"

"Yeah, definitely." Scott agreed.

"Look at you two, being so mature." There was silence for a moment before Lydia commented, "So, Scott, when did you get so good at lacrosse?"

"Since last night, I think. I don't know. It was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball, and that's not all... I can see, hear, and smell things that I shouldn't be able to see, hear, or smell."

"Like what?" Stiles asked.

"Like the mint mojito gum In your pocket."

Stiles laughed, as he reached into his pocket to prove a point. "I don't have mint mojito-" Instead, he pulled out a piece of gum. "Huh..." He exchanged looks with Lydia.

"And this all started with the bite?" Lydia asked.

"What if it's like an infection or something? Like my body is flooding with adrenaline before I go into shock."

"I've actually heard of this," Stiles said as he winked at Lydia behind Scott's back. "It's a specific kind of infection."

"Seriously?" Scott asked.

"Yeah," Lydia said. "All the symptom add up."

"I think it's called, lycanthropy." Stiles finished.

"What is that? Is it bad?"

"Oh yeah," Lydia told him. "But only once a month."

"Once a month?"

"On the night of the full moon." Stiles and Lydia were both fighting smiles.

Scott glared. "You're an ass. Both of you."

"That's what you get for laughing at me earlier."

"You guys, something could be seriously wrong."

"Yeah, you're a werewolf." Lydia smiled. "I mean, you did hear a _wolf_ howling."

Scott shook his head and looked around. "I swear it was right here."

"Scott," Lydia squeaked and Stiles saw the figure that Lydia had. He tapped Scott on his shoulder.

"What are you doing here? This is private property." The guy said. Lydia grabbed Stiles's arm.

"Sorry, we didn't know." Stiles said as he put his free hand on Lydia's arm protectively, so that he was practically standing in front of her.

"We were just looking for something. We'll leave. Sorry to bother you." Scott told him.

Stiles felt Lydia flinch when the guy threw something at them, but Scott caught it. The guy walked away and the three friends began walking toward their vehicles.

"Is that your inhaler?" Stiles asked. Scott nodded in bewilderment.

"Guys, do you know who that was?" The boys shook their heads. "That's Malia's brother, Derek. I recognize him from when Malia and I used to be friends and I would hang out at their house."

"Wasn't that the one that burned down about 6 and a half years ago?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, remember? Dad was stuck dealing with it and almost missed Kayce's birth." Stiles reminded him.

Scott chuckled at the memory. "Oh yeah, and you and I were arguing over which one of us was going to have to step up and go in there with Mom."

"Awe, both of you wanted to be in there?" Lydia asked.

"No!" They both exclaimed.

"Neither of us wanted to go." Scott told her.

"In our defense, we were 10." Stiles tried. "See, I thought it should be Scott, because it was _his_ mother in there."

"And I thought it should have been Stiles because _his_ dad was the one missing, so he should have been the one to take his place."

"Which one of you ended up doing it?"Lydia asked.

"Neither." Stiles told her. "Dad showed up just in time, and we both nearly cried with happiness."

"Yeah, he was covered in ashes from the fire." Scott thought back to that night.

"There were only a few survivors." Lydia told them. "Malia, Laura, Derek, and their uncle, Peter. Their parents and other siblings died and Peter's been catatonic since that night. Laura took full guardianship over Malia and Derek left town shortly after."

"I wonder what he's doing back?" Scott asked.

"I don't know,"Stiles answered, "But did anybody realize that Malia wasn't in school today?" Lydia and Stiles looked to Scott.

Scott sighed. "Yeah, I noticed." Scott had a huge crush on Malia for the longest time but she never gave him the time of day. To be honest, she never gave anyone the time of day anymore. Not since the fire. "Alright, I have to get to work." he said once they got back to their cars. Stiles tossed Scott the jeep keys. "See you later."

"Bye." Stiles said, and climbed into Lydia's car.

"Well, that was an interesting day." Lydia said as she got in and started the engine.

"Yeah...so Allison thought I was gay?"

Lydia laughed. "Yeah, when you were blowing me kisses she asked if you were my boyfriend and I told her no. So she assumed you were gay because we were both attractive, so why wouldn't we be together? Unless you just didn't like girls. Don't worry, I set her straight...but you didn't help your case when you used the word 'fabulous'."

"Yeah,"Stiles said as he thought back to the scene in the hallway. "After that I felt like I needed to fuck a girl in front of her to prove a point."

Lydia felt a tingle in her stomach when he said it. Several thoughts popped in her head. The first thought, was how could something so vulgar sound so sexy? And did she just call something Stiles said 'sexy'? The other thought was 'you could have done it with me.' Seriously, where did that come from? Lydia tried to say something, but her head wasn't coming up with a clear thought. She quickly hit the brakes and pulled off on the side of the road. She wanted to say something witty and flirty and banter like the normally did, but instead the words that came out were,

"Do you want to make out?"

"What?" Stiles laughed. "That was so random."

Lydia sighed. "Look, you had the hot, new girl thinking you were gay," she said as she unbuckled his seat belt, "And I was pretty much ignored by the guy I've been talking to for a week." She unbuckled hers. "I want to feel desirable, and you want to desire women."

"But I _do_ desire women."

"Just shut up and kiss me!" She grabbed the front of his shirt and crashed her lips into his. His hands went to sides of her face and her hands stayed on his chest for a moment before one of them went to the back of his head. He flicked his tongue across her lips and they parted to let him in. His hands went back to run them through her hair. The makeout session went on for a few moments longer before Lydia finally broke away.

"So, do you feel better?" She asked, as she looked at herself in the mirror to fix her hair.

"Yeah." He said, his voice cracking as he picked up his backpack from the floor and put it in his lap. He cleared his throat. "Great. Fantastic. You?"

She smirked. "I feel much better. Thanks for asking." She buckled back up and put the car in drive.

When they got back to Stiles's house, she followed him inside.

"Want something to drink?" Stiles asked as he walked toward the kitchen.

"Sure. What do you have?"

Stiles opened the fridge. "Uh, milk, juice, Coke, water."

"Water's fine."

Stiles grabbed the last Coke and handed it to her. "Here."

"I asked for water."

"You said 'water's fine' and I know you love Coke and that you just didn't want to take the last one."

Lydia sighed. "Thank you."

"What are best friends for if not to give you the last Coke, or boost your confidence by making out with them."

Lydia hit his arm. "You know you liked it." She paused as she brought the can to her lips. "Maybe a little _too_ much?" She took a sip of the drink and saw Stiles blush out of the corner of her eye, but it quickly faded.

He shrugged. "What can I say?" He said leaning against the counter. "Hormones. I can't control it. Besides," he continued. "You know you liked it." He leaned closer to her to whisper in her ear. "Obviously you were very desirable." Now it was Lydia's turn to blush. She quickly got a handle on it as he pulled away. "Besides, that wasn't the first time we made out and it turned me on. It's just the first time you brought it up." Stiles and Lydia both began laughing at his choice of words. "And by that, I meant it was the first time you mentioned it."

"I get it." Lydia said trying to catch her breath. They heard the Sheriff as he was approaching the door and realized he was on the phone, so they both quieted down.

"Animal hairs?" He was saying as he walked inside. "What kind? That's it? And you're sure it was a wolf?"

"What?!" Both Stiles and Lydia yelped. The Sheriff hadn't noticed them yet and jumped and turned around.

"I have to go. Thanks for letting me know." He hung up the phone and looked at the two teenagers. "How was your day?"

"Good." Lydia answered.

"Uneventful." Stiles said at the same time.

The older man nodded with a hint of doubt in what his son had said. "Okay then.

"They really found wolf hairs on that body?" Stiles asked.

"Stiles-"

"Because wolves haven't been in California in like-"

"Sixty years. I know. But I guess they're back."

* * *

"Scott!" Stiles yelled as he barreled into his brother's room the next morning. It was empty. "Scott?" He asked looking around. The bathroom door was open and no one was inside there either. Stiles headed downstairs with confusion. His dad and sister were the only two in the kitchen. "Dad, have you seen Scott?"

The front door swung open and Scott came inside soaked head to toe and wearing only his boxers. Stiles only stared with wide eyes and a confused expression.

"Son?" The Sheriff directed to Scott.

"I uh...went for a run."

"In your underwear?"

"Umm..."

The Sheriff shook his head. "Nevermind. I don't want to know. Kayce, time for school. Boys, get dressed and get gone."

Scott headed upstairs and Stiles followed him "Scott!"

"Stiles, I have to get dressed."

"But I need to tell you something." Stiles was at Scott's door, but his brother walked inside and slammed it in his face. He sighed.

A few moments later Scott came out of his room and Stiles immediately started talking as they walked to the car. "Lydia and I overheard dad talking last night when he got home. The analysis came back from LA and you'll never guess what kind of animal hairs they found on the body!"

"What?" Scott said, bored.

"Wolf." Stiles told him.

Scott shrugged. "Okay?"

"Don't you get it?" Stiles was saying as they walked out the front door. "You were right, you may have actually been bitten by a wolf."

"Don't sound so shocked. I told you I heard a wolf howling."

"Well, I'm sorry I didn't believe you." Stiles could feel that his brother was on edge and stayed silent on the way to school, which was really hard for Stiles Stilinski.

The boys walked in and Allison and Lydia were talking next to Allison's locker.

"Hey," Stiles said to them as his brother walked past. The girls exchanged looks and looked back at Stiles. "He's in a mood today." Stiles made a face. "When I woke up, he wasn't in the house... He came in later saying he had gone for a run."

Allison looked at Lydia, to see if she had registered anything odd about the sentence. "I don't get it."

"He was in his underwear and soaked from head to toe."

"Well, did you ask him about it?" Lydia asked.

Stiles shook his head. "No, because I told him about the wolf hairs and he just shrugged it off."

"Wolf hairs?" Allison asked.

Stiles exchanged looks with Lydia. "Yeah," he told the brunette. "They found wolf hairs on the body in the woods."

"But I thought there were no wolves in California."

"You and everybody else." He told her. "But apparently the wolves have a different idea. Or the girl was somewhere else before coming back to Beacon Hills."

"We need to get to class." Lydia said as she looked at the time.

* * *

"Want to come to tryouts with me? You can watch Scott and Stiles play again." Lydia asked Allison.

"As fun as that sounds," Allison began with a smile. "I have things to do before your party tonight."

"So you're coming?"

"If I can find a ride. My aunt needs to take my car. "

"Well, I'm sure it won't be difficult to find someone."

"Hopefully not."

"I'll let you go. See you later." Lydia waved and walked away and toward the lacrosse field.

"Lyd!" She heard her name and turned around to see Stiles running toward her. "Wait up!"

She stopped until he caught up with her. "What?" She asked him.

"I need a ride home. Scott has work and finally decided to talk to me and tell me an hour ago that he needs the jeep."

"Well, what do I get?" She smirked.

"Uh...the satisfaction of helping a friend in need?"

Lydia sighed, feigning exasperation. "I guess."

"Thank you! I love you!"

"Yeah yeah..." She said as he kissed her cheek and ran off. She turned around and saw some more players coming out onto the field. "Aaron!" She called.

He looked up and nodded at her. She took a deep breath and ran toward him. "Are you coming to my party tonight? It starts at 10:00."

"Uh.." He paused and looked at Danny.

"Yes, Lydia," Danny answered for him. "We'll be there."

Aaron turned back to the girl. "Yeah. Wouldn't miss it."

"Great! Can't wait to see you there." She smiled and walked off toward the bleachers, letting out the breath she had been holding in. She found a spot to watch her friends (and potential boyfriend) and cheered them on. Coach gave them the usual talk, mentioning something about cream cheese that made her really want a bagel, then blew the whistle to start the scrimmage.

Stiles and Scott were both playing great. Then out of nowhere Scott, got the ball. He was running faster than she'd ever seen the asthmatic run before, flipping over guys, and swinging the ball at lightning speed into the net.

Lydia stood up slowly, mouth dropped open and found Stiles, who had taken his helmet off and was wearing an expression similar to hers. He looked up at her from his spot on the field and shook his head. That was definitely not normal.

Lydia was waiting for him by her car.

"First line!" She squealed when she saw him and threw her arms around his neck. "I'm so proud of you!"

"Thanks." He told her with a smile.

"Your dad will be so thrilled."

"Yeah, and now he'll have two kids to watch on the field."

"You sound bitter." She told him with a raised eyebrow then opened the driver's door. Stiles walked around and got in the passenger's side and huffed.

"I'm not bitter. I just...I've been practicing since last year to make first line. Scott just kind of got good overnight."

"Do you really think it has to do with the bite?" Lydia asked him, skeptical.

"I don't know, but I want to do some research when we get to my place. Wanna help?"

Lydia shrugged. "Sure. There's nothing better to do."

"Gee, thanks."

Lydia smiled. "That's not what I mean and you know it. I just have to get home by 9:00 to finish setting up."

"Sounds good. Scott should be home by 8:30."

Lydia drove to Stiles's house, and noticed his father's vehicle in the driveway. "Look, your dad's home!"

Stiles got out of the car and Lydia followed him inside. The Sheriff sat at the kitchen table as was just hanging up the phone when they walked in.

"Who was that?" Stiles asked his father.

"The station. They brought Derek Hale in for questioning since the body was found on his family's land." The Sheriff looked as his son expectantly, "So?"

Stiles couldn't stop the wide grin that formed. "I made first line."

Stilinski jumped up from his chair and engulfed his son in a huge hug. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks, Dad."

"What about Scott?" He asked hesitantly.

"He made it too."

"Really?' He seemed shocked, and rightfully so.

"Yeah, he's gotten pretty good, but uh... don't tell Mom. I don't know if Scott told her yet. I didn't see him after practice because he had work."

"My lips are sealed."

"Thanks, Lydia and I have some research to do. So, we'll be upstairs." Stiles grabbed Lydia's hand and led her up the stairs and into his room.

"So, what exactly are we looking for?" Lydia asked as she dropped her bags and sat down on the bed. Stiles pulled up a chair to his desk and opened his laptop.

"I don't know," He said as he brought the laptop to life, "But," He reached for his bag and pulled several books out of backpack and tossed them to Lydia. "I picked these up at the library on my way out."

Lydia picked up one of the books _"History of Lycanthropy._ Are you serious? Stiles, there's no such thing as werewolves."

"Look, I'm not one to believe in this kind of thing either, but it makes sense."

"How can something so absurd make sense?"

"I don't know, but the heightened senses? The speed? What else can explain that?"

"Well, I didn't want to say anything, but what if it's steroids?"

"What?" Stiles nearly laughed. "Scott would never. Our parents are a cop and a nurse. If he's not afraid to do them because of the long term effects, he's afraid to get caught."

Lydia shrugged. "I'm just saying, it's the more logical of the two choices."

Stiles shook his head. "Just start reading the book and let me know what it says." He told her and then started inputting words into his search engine. He pulled up article after article and Lydia went through chapter after chapter.

"Okay," Lydia said slowly. "I think you've convinced me. Which makes me question my sanity."

They heard the jeep pull into the driveway and Stiles looked out the window to see his brother get out of the car, his eyes slowly wandered up to the sky "Oh shit."

"What?" Lydia asked as she looked toward Stiles.

Stiles turned to her. "The full moon is tonight." They heard Scott come in and start up the stairs. Stiles ran to his door and opened it just as Scott was walking by. "Come here." He grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him into his room.

"What the hell?" Scott yelled. Lydia slowly stood from the bed and Scott seemed to notice her. "Lydia? What are you doing here? I thought you had a party to set up for."

"I do...but I think this is more important."

"What's going on? Is this about the body in the woods?" Scott asked.

"No, they're still questioning people. Even Derek Hale." Stiles told him.

"Well, what is it then?"

Stiles exchanged looks with Lydia. "Remember the joke from the other day?" He asked his brother. "Not a joke anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"The wolf? The bite in the woods? Lydia and I have been doing all of this research. Do you know why a wolf howls?"

"Should I?" Scott asked.

Lydia answered, "It's to signal it's location to the rest of the pack."

"So, if you heard howling," Stiles continued. "That may mean there's a whole pack of them nearby."

"A pack of wolves?"

"No." Stiles said.

"Werewolves." Lydia finished.

"Are you guys seriously wasting my time with this?"

"I know how it sounds, Scott." Lydia told him, "Believe me. I didn't want to believe it either, but after looking at all of this..."

"Keeping in mind the heightened senses, and the reflexes, and we both noticed that you're not using your inhaler anymore."

"You guys are crazy. I need to get in the shower. I'm picking Allison up in an hour."

Lydia and Stiles exchanged looks. "Allison?" Stiles asked.

"Yeah, she didn't have a ride to the party, so I told her I'd pick her up. Don't worry. We're not going together, I'm just her ride."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Lydia told him.

"Why not?"

"The full moon is tonight, Scott." Stiles said. "Maybe, I should pick her up instead." Stiles pulled out his phone.

"What are you doing?" Scott asked.

"I'm just going to tell her that I'll pick her up-" Scott suddenly pushed his brother against the wall and Lydia yelped and jumped backwards.

"Are you trying to take her away from me?!" Scott yelled.

"Y-you just said that it wasn't like that." Scott seemed to calm down slightly and slowly let go of Stiles.

"I'm sorry. I'm...I'm going to go take a shower." Scott left Stiles's room quickly.

"I should go." Lydia said and grabbed her bag. "Maybe he'll be fine and we're just overreacting?" Lydia cleared her throat. "But uh, just to be safe, you probably shouldn't text Allison. If he reacted like that at the thought of you texting her, I would be scared to see what would happen if you took her to the party instead. We'll just keep an eye on them when they get there."

Stiles nodded. "See ya."

* * *

Lydia looked around her house as she sipped on the punch she'd made. There weren't many people there yet, but it was only 10:02. The doorbell rang and she smoothed out her skirt, and took a deep breath. "Please be Aaron, please be Aaron, please be Aaron." She chanted as she went to the door and swung it open.

"Hey." It was Stiles and he looked fidgety. Although, Lydia wasn't sure if it was more or less fidgety that normal. "Have you seen Scott yet?" He asked as he walked inside.

Lydia sighed, disappointed slightly that it wasn't Aaron. "No. Not yet." She shut the door behind him

"He left like 20 minutes before I did, and I had to stop and get gas on the way because the jeep was on empty and he didn't fill it up after work."

"Did he take Melissa's car?" Stiles nodded. "You seem agitated."

"Really?! You don't say!" Stiles sighed. "I need a drink." He walked off toward the kitchen and the doorbell rang again.

Lydia took a deep breath and smiled as she opened the door. "Allison!" Lydia said with a mixture of excitement and relief.

"Hey! Scott brought me. He overheard me talking to you about needing a ride and he offered to take me."

"That's great!" Lydia said, grabbing Allison's arm and pulling her inside. "Where's Scott?"

"Uh," Allison turned around. "He was right here just a few seconds ago."

Lydia poked her head out and saw Scott running up to the door. "Hey, sorry. I left my phone in the car."

"Scott," Lydia said as she closed the door behind him. "Stiles is in the kitchen."

Scott shrugged. "Okay."

Lydia sighed. The point of that was to get Allison alone. Lydia inwardly cringed as she tipped her drink down her blouse. "Oh my God!" Lydia exclaimed. "I'm such a klutz! Allison, come help me."

Lydia grabbed Allison's arm and led her upstairs and into her bathroom.

"How did you even do that?" Allison asked her friend.

"It's a special talent I have." Lydia rolled her eyes and she began to dab the stain. "Luckily, I wasn't sure if I wanted to wear this outfit anyway."

"Don't give up hope, just yet. You'd be surprised at the amount of stains I've gotten out."

"Thanks." Lydia told her as Allison took over. "So," Lydia started. "Scott?"

"What about him?"

"Well, I thought you said you weren't choosing anyone."

"I'm not! We just came as friends." Allison, noticed Lydia's look. "Wait, does he think we're here as more than friends?"

Lydia shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that he waited until the last minute to tell Stiles about it, then they got into a fight."

"Over me?" Lydia shrugged. "Wait, does Stiles want to be here with me as more than friends?"

"I don't know." Lydia said again. "When I talked to them about it they both said you were hot, but that they just wanted to be friends, and now..."Lydia sighed. "Just be careful about the signals you send." Allison nodded.

"All done." Lydia looked down at her stain-free shirt.

"Oh my God! You're a miracle worker."

Allison shrugged and Lydia hugged her. "Oh!" Allison let out a small gasp, not expecting the sudden contact, but hugged her back.

The doorbell rang again and Lydia pulled away. "I got to get that!" She ran out of the bathroom and down the stairs, and nearly took a tumble as she neared the bottom.

"Whoa!" Someone said as they caught her before she went flying. "You okay?"

Lydia looked up and saw, "Aaron!" She looked toward the door and saw Stiles with a semi-guilty looking face closing the door behind the large group that had just come in. "I'm great."

"Good." He smiled.

"Come on, I'll show you where the drinks are." Lydia took Aaron's arm and led him out to the backyard.

"Hey, Allison." Stiles said as he saw the brunette on the stairs.

"Hey." She smiled. "Just so you know," She began as she stepped off the bottom step and walked over to him. "I only came with Scott to get a ride. I don't think this is anything more than that."

Stiles creased his forehead. "Okay?" Why was she telling him this?

"I just," Allison continued. "I didn't want you to think that I was choosing him." Stiles's raised his eyebrows, and Allison widened her eyes. "Not that I'm choosing you... I'm not choosing anybody..." Her cheeks began to turn pink and she looked away.

"Hey," He said putting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Come on, Scott went to get a drink."

Allison nodded and followed Stiles to the backyard.

Scott was being somewhat normal again and apologized to Stiles for pushing him earlier. Stiles forgave him and all was well between the brothers once again.

Scott offered Allison a dance "as friends" and she accepted, leaving Stiles alone, leaning on the bar as he scraped the paper off of a long empty beer bottle. Lydia suddenly appeared beside him and huffed.

"Yes?" He asked as he turned to face her.

"Why are boys so stupid?" She groaned.

"Because we are a lesser species." He told her, knowing it was what she wanted to hear, then went back to peeling the paper off of his bottle.

"Do you wanna make out?" Stiles laughed and looked down.

"Are you trying to make Aaron jealous? Because, News Flash, I'm nothing to be jealous over. In fact, it may even make him desire you even less."

"Are you kidding me? One, I've realized over the past couple of days that...you're kinda hot." Stiles raised his eyebrows. "And two, you're first line, and you got there all by yourself. Aaron will feel like he has something to prove, so he'll want to steal me away from you."

Stiles shook his head. "I can't decide if I feel flattered or used."

Suddenly, he felt her hot breath on his ear and her teeth grazed it as she whispered, "What do you want to feel?"

He looked up at her, biting her lip coyly. He rolled his eyes before standing up completely, grabbing the back of her head and pulling her toward him.

Allison and Scott were dancing about twenty feet away when Allison looked up. "Oh, my God!" She quickly looked down, and covered her face. "I thought that they weren't dating."

Scott raised a questioning eyebrow and turned to see Lydia and his brother with their tongues down each others' throats. "Uhh...I didn't think so either." Scott stared with a mixture of awe and confusion, before finally turning back to Allison. "God, they're really going at it, aren't they?"

Allison laughed and then had a realization. "What time is it?"

"Uh," Scott looked at his watch. "It's just after two."

"Shit." Allison swore as she dug through her purse and pulled out her phone. "My dad's called me five times. I'll be right back."

Stiles's hands had found their way under Lydia's blouse and were at her waist, touching her soft, warm skin. Both had gotten completely lost in the point they were trying to make.

"Scott!" Stiles heard Allison's voice calling his brother's name, and he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be watching him. He pulled away from Lydia, both breathing heavily.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Lydia asked, dizzily.

"I think I heard Allison call Scott's name. I'm..." Stiles said as he started to walk away. "I'm going to go check on them."

Lydia sighed. "Fine."

Lydia leaned against the bar again and grabbed the bottle that Stiles had been playing with. "Hey, Lydia." Her breath hitched momentarily as she tried to keep her cool.

"Hey, Aaron." She smiled. Her plan worked.

Stiles walked through the house, looking for any signs of Scott or Allison. He walked out the front door and he heard someone say, "Allison!" It wasn't Scott's voice though. "I'm Derek. I'm a friend of Scott's." What was he talking about? Stiles walked around until he finally saw them. "He wanted me to give you a ride home."

"Oh, hell no!" He thought he'd said it his head, but it actually came out of his mouth. It was Derek Hale, the guy from the woods. "Scott doesn't know him." Stiles told Allison, who was taking a step toward the guy. Allison froze. Stiles walked over to her, putting his arm around her protectively. "Don't worry, I'll take you home." He told her, then shot Derek a look as he said. "Hey, Allison, did I ever tell you my dad's the sheriff?" He pulled her over to his jeep and opened the passenger door for her, then went over to the driver's side. "So," He said as he got in. "You'll have to tell me how to get to your house because I have no clue." He heard a sob and turned to look at her. "Are you okay?"

Allison shook her head. "No."

"What's wrong?" He asked with genuine concern.

"He knew my name. He knew Scott's name. I was convinced Scott really wanted him to take me home. God, how could I be so stupid."

"Shhh.." Stiles tried to calm her down. "You're not stupid."

"Yes, I am. If you hadn't shown up...who knows what he would have done to me!"

Stiles didn't really know Derek Hale, but he didn't think he would do anything to hurt her...but then again...he _didn't know Derek Hale._

"Hey, everything's okay now." He told her as he placed a hand on hers. She took a deep breath and nodded. Stiles kept his hand there until she calmed down enough that he felt it was okay to finally start the car. "So," he said as he maneuvered his way out of Lydia's yard. "What happened to Scott?"

Allison sniffed and shook her head. "I don't know. I stepped away for like five seconds to call my dad and when I came back he was gone."

"Maybe he just went to the bathroom or something?" Stiles suggested, not believing it himself.

"Maybe."

"So, did you at least have fun before that?"

"Yeah," Allison smiled. "Although, not as much fun as you were having."

"What?"

"You and Lydia. I thought you guys weren't dating..."

"We're not." Stiles clarified quickly. "She was trying to make this guy jealous or something. I just learn to go with it."

"Oh...so you don't like her like that?"

"Nah, she's my best friend."

"Who you make out with..."

"Hey, I do anything for my friends. If you wanted to make some guy jealous, I would gladly make out with you too."

Allison laughed. "Make a right up here."

"So, does this at least convince you that I'm not gay?"

"If you say you're not gay, I believe you, but I've seen gay guys make out with girls before, so that doesn't prove anything." She shrugged playfully.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to find a way to prove it to you one day."

"This is me." Allison said, pointing to the large house. Stiles pulled over and Allison gathered her things. She was about to open the door when she turned back to look at him. She quickly, leaned over and kissed his cheek and he immediately felt himself turn pink. "Thanks." She told him. "For taking me home. You were my hero tonight." Allison got out of the car, while Stiles just sat there stunned. He waited until she got inside her house, then lifted his hand to touch the spot where her lips had just been. A goofy grin spread on his face and he headed home.

Melissa's car was in the driveway when he got there and he immediately ran to Scott's room. His door was closed, and Stiles tried to knob. It opened, but the room and bathroom were empty. His window on the other hand was wide open. He ran over and didn't see any sign of his brother.

He grabbed his phone and called Lydia.

"What do you need?" She answered.

"We have an emergency."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at my house." Stiles said as he walked out of Scott's room.

"You left? When did you leave?"

"Like an hour ago. I took Allison home, because Scott left her, and Mom's car is in the driveway, but Scott isn't here." He was walking back down the stairs.

Lydia sighed. "Okay, umm...get back to my place and I'll help you look for him."

"Already on my way." Stiles told her as he walked out the door and back to his jeep.

When Stiles got to Lydia's house all of the cars were gone and Lydia was waiting outside. She hopped into the passenger's seat, then Stiles left again.

"Have you tried calling him?" Lydia asked.

"It rings then goes to voicemail. He either left it in the house or the car. I think he jumped out of his window, so just keep an eye out for him."

Lydia nodded and began scanning the area for any movement. "So, you took Allison home?"

"Yeah, that creep Derek was trying to convince her that he and Scott were friends and that Scott wanted him to take her home."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, so I said 'no' and took her myself." Lydia watched his expression turn from anger to a smile.

"What's that?" She asked teasingly.

"What's what?" He asked, still smiling.

"That smile!"

"What? I'm not allowed to smile?"

"You are, but only if you give me the deets. And you know that if you don't tell me, Allison will."

Stiles sighed. "She kissed me." Then clarified, "On my cheek. She called me her hero."

"Awe! Stiles...do you have a crush on Allison?"

"No...I mean... I don't know."

"You know, you'll have to talk to Scott."

"And tell him what? She already told you she's not interested in being with either of us."

"Yeah, but if you like her, you need to let him know."

"I'd still want to get to know her better."

Lydia smiled. "I think you guys would be super cute together." Stiles shook his head and he felt his cheeks heat up. "Oh my God! You're blushing!"

"Stop." He groaned. Lydia stopped and Stiles took a deep breath. "So, how about you and Aaron? Did anything happen after I left?"

She huffed. "He flirted a little. You and Allison got further than we did. God, I just don't understand what his problem is."

"Maybe he's waiting for you to make the first move."

"But I want him to make the first move!"

"You may be waiting for awhile."

"God, I hope not."

Stiles could barely keep his eyes open and Lydia had fallen asleep in the backseat by the time Stiles spotted the shirtless guy wandering down the side of the road.

"Scott?" Stiles asked to himself, then the guy turned around ."Scott!"

Lydia jumped up. "What? What happened?" Stiles pulled over and Scott got into the passenger's seat. "Scott?" Lydia asked sleepily.

"Hey, Lydia." Scott mumbled. "How long have you guys been looking for me?"

"Couple of hours." Stiles told him with a yawn.

"You guys were right." Scott told the, "About all of it."

"Of course we were." Lydia mumbled from the backseat as she was beginning to fall asleep again.

"Did Allison make it home okay?"

Stiles nodded. ."Yeah, I took her home." Lydia popped an eye open and caught Stiles's gaze in the rear view mirror. He wasn't going to tell Scott anything right now, but he would later. "That was after Derek tried to convince her that you'd asked him to take her home."

"Wait, Derek Hale?" Stiles nodded. "Guys, I think he's the one who bit me."

Lydia popped both eyes open and Stiles slammed on the brakes ."What?!" They both yelled.

"Yeah, Derek's a werewolf, and there are hunters who tried to kill me. And it's all just really complicated."

"Hey," Stiles said after a moment. "We'll get through this. If I have to, I'll chain you up myself on the nights of a full moon and feed you live mice. Remember the boa I used to have? I could do it."

"You have to admit it though,"Lydia said, sitting up again. "It's kind of cool. Aside from the people trying to kill you thing."

Stiles dropped Lydia off and then went home and the boys went straight to sleep. 


	2. Second Chance at First Line

Stiles woke up in the middle of the day on Saturday. He looked at his phone and had a text from Lydia.

 _How's Scott?_ She asked. He got up and walked downstairs and Scott was watching cartoons with Kayce.

"Hey," Stiles began, speaking to him.

Scott looked up. "Hey, welcome back to the land of the living. You must have been really tired."

"I was. How are you?" Stiles asked as he plopped down on the other side of Kayce.

Scott shrugged. "I'm fine."

 _He says he's fine._ Stiles texted back.

 _Do you believe him?_ She asked.

Stiles looked back at his brother.

_I'm not sure._

"Who are you texting?" His little sister asked as she peered over to his phone.

"Nunya."

"What?" She asked curiously.

"Nunya business."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Way to bring back the nineties there, Stiles."

"Who's Allison?" Kayce asked.

Scott looked up at his brother with a raised eyebrow and Stiles looked down at his phone and saw he had a new text from Allison.

"She's just a friend from school." Stiles told her as he looked at the text.

 _Thanks again for taking me home. My dad wants to like make you dinner or something._ The text read.

Stiles smiled and texted back. _Lol. It's no problem. Really. Although, I would never say no to food._

He looked up at his siblings once he hit 'send.' They were both giving him the same look. The one that said 'Ooooh Stiles has a crush.' "What?"

"So, Stiles." Scott began. "What happened when you took Allison home last night?"

"Nothing." He said, shaking his head and shrugging.

"Really? _Nothing's_ got you blushing pretty hard." The comment made Stiles blush even deeper which Scott didn't even think was possible at that point. "Do you like her?"

"No!" Stiles said quickly.

Kayce turned to Scott and whispered loudly, "He said that really fast."

"I know!" Scott whispered back.

"Uh, guys I can hear you. I'm right here."

Kayce smirked and began singing, "Stiles and Allison sitting in a tree. K-M-I-S-N-U-G!"

Stiles shook his head. "It's K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

Kayce gasped and turned to Scott again. "He said they're kissing!"

Stiles's eyes widened and Scott laughed. "No, that's not what I- I just meant- I was telling you how the song goes!"

"A likely story." Kayce crossed her arms.

"You know..."Stiles began as he mimicked his sister's movement. "You're kind of evil."

The two of them had a short staring contest before Stiles moved his hands to her sides and began to tickle her.

"Stop!" She giggled and Scott joined in. "Stop it!" She laughed again, "I'm gonna pee!"

"If someone pees on my couch," They heard and the boys both stopped tickling their sister and looked toward the front door where their mother had just walked in.

"Mommy!" Kayce yelled and ran toward her.

"Kayce!" She yelled back and gave her a hug.

"Knock knock." They heard before a woman with auburn hair stepped in behind Melissa.

"Aunt Aubie!" Kayce exclaimed before hugging the new face.

"What are you doing here, Aubie?" Scott asked as he stood.

"I just brought your mom home. I picked her up since you took her car to the party. I just wanted to make sure she didn't pass out on the way inside."

"Why? What happened?" Stiles asked as a concerned look passed over his face and he got up to stand next to his brother.

"It was nothing." Melissa sighed. "I'm fine! Aubrey's being overly protective."

"You're my best friend, Melissa. Of course I'm going to be protective."

Melissa ignored her friend and turned to her sons. "How was your party last night?"

"Okay." Scott told her.

At the same time, Stiles said, "Nothing happened."

Melissa gave a sideways glance to Stiles. _"What_ happened?"

"I just said 'nothing'." Stiles shrugged.

"Which means you're lying so, what happened?"

"Allison kissed me." Stiles blurted and Scott whipped his head toward him.

"What?!" Scott gasped.

"On the cheek!" Stiles corrected himself. "As a thank you for bringing her home."

Melissa creased her forehead. "But I thought that Scott was taking Allison to the party?"

"I did." Scott said carefully. "But I wasn't feeling well and I left early."

"She wasn't ready to leave yet, so I took her home." Stiles finished.

Melissa looked the boys for a moment, not sure if she believed them, but too tired to convince herself one way or another. She shook her head. "Fine. Whatever. I'm going to bed." Aubrey took a step toward Melissa before the brunette turned around to face her friend. "Aubrey, I'm fine. Just let me go to bed." Aubrey crossed her arms and stared Melissa down for a moment before Melissa sighed, giving in. "Fine. You can walk me up, but you're leaving once I get to my room."

Kayce followed the two women up the stairs and Scott turned to his brother. "So...she kissed you?"

"On the cheek." Stiles repeated as he sighed and sat back down on the couch.

Scott nodded slowly and sat down next to Stiles. "Does she like you?"

Stiles shrugged. "I don't know."

"Do you like her?"

"I don't know!"

Scott paused. "Does this have anything to do with Lydia?"

Stiles whipped his head toward Scott with confusion written all over his face. "What the hell does Lydia have to do with Allison kissing my cheek?"

"Well, you were kissing her last night."

Stiles shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "That was to make Aaron jealous."

"How would-"

"I don't know." Stiles answered abruptly before Scott could even finish his question. "Ask Lydia. I'm just her best friend. It's not my job to understand what happens in her brain, it's my job to just go along with it."

Scott looked down. "So...Allison?"

Stiles sighed. "I don't know. We've already discussed that she's hot. I honestly think she was just thanking me for taking her home. I don't think she wanted it to mean anything else. Which makes me very hesitant to decipher any feelings I may have for her."

"Who do you have feelings for?" Aubrey asked as she appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Al-" Scott started before Stiles elbowed him.

"No one."

Aubrey shook her head. "I'm so glad I only have one son."

"But, you have two daughter's," Stiles told her. "Isn't that worse?"

Aubrey glared for a moment. "Why would you remind me of that?" She sighed and walked toward the door.

"Sorry?" Stiles offered.

Aubrey waved it off. "Don't worry about it. I'll see you guys later." She paused and turned back to the boys. "And...give me a call if your mom starts feeling bad again."

"What happened to make you so concerned?" Scott asked her.

Aubrey shook her head. "Don't tell her I told you, but she got really lightheaded toward the end of our shift. It just worries me a little."

"I'll keep an eye out on her." Scott told her.

She nodded. "Thanks. I'll see you boys later."

Stiles spent the rest of the weekend fielding texts from Allison and Lydia. Scott was mostly concerned with Melissa who he had seen getting sick several times. She told him it was food poisoning and not to text Aubrey about it. He did anyway.

On Monday, Scott and Stiles took Kayce to school. Monday was normally one of Melissa's days to take her, but Scott convinced her that she needed rest, and she couldn't argue with that.

"So," Stiles began once they dropped Kayce off. "This is the first time you're going to see Allison since the party."

"Yeah..."

"Have you thought about what you're going to say to her?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well she said that you haven't texted her an apology or anything all weekend. I told her you just wanted to do it in person."

Scott groaned. "Why didn't you tell me that she wanted me to say something? I would have just texted her."

"Seriously? Scott, you left the girl stranded at a party where she knew like 3 people and almost accepted a ride from a complete stranger. And if you texted her after she said something to me, it wouldn't mean as much because then she would know I told you to do it. This way, everyone wins."

Scott sighed. "I guess you're right."

Stiles shrugged. "Of course I am. So, what are you going to say?"

"I don't know. I guess I'll wing it."

When they pulled into the school parking lot, Lydia pulled in right next to them. Stiles got out of the Jeep and Lydia grabbed him in a hug.

"Uh...hey..." He said slowly as he wrapped his arms around his best friend's tiny frame. "What's going on?"He asked her when she lingered with the hug.

"Aaron ignored me all weekend."

Stiles sighed, partially because he was relieved it wasn't anything more serious.

"Maybe you should just move on from Aaron?" Stiles suggested. Lydia backed away suddenly.

"That's easy for you to say. Allison actually likes you."

Stiles looked back at Scott, but he had already walked toward the school. "Lydia!" He chastised as he turned back to face her.

"What? I thought you said you told him about the kiss."

"I did...and for the last time...it was just on the cheek! It didn't mean anything."

"Are you sure it didn't mean anything?" Stiles didn't say anything, but looked down. Lydia shrugged. "I'll find out for you."

"No!" He said quickly as his head popped up.

"Why not?" She raised eyebrow.

"Because...reasons..."

"Those reasons being...?"

Stiles sighed. "Well, first off...if you ask her, then she'll know that I told you about it and then she'll think that I was the one who asked you to find out. And then what if she thinks that I like her, but she doesn't like me and it just makes things really awkward."

Lydia sighed. "If it gets awkward, then it isn't worth having her as a friend. Plus, she already said you were hot."

"Yeah, but she also said she wasn't looking for a relationship."

"Well...not exactly."

Stiles shook his head. "I'm going to class."

By the end of the day, Scott had missed several chances of apologizing to Allison. In his defense, there were a few times where he'd gotten interrupted right as he was getting her attention. Finally, it was the end of the school day and he needed to get to lacrosse practice, but he wanted to talk to her first.

"Allison!" He called when he saw her leaving the school. She stopped at hearing her name and Scott ran up to her. "Hey, I've been trying to talk to you all day. I wanted to apologize."

"For what?" Allison seemed genuinely confused.

"For leaving you at the party on Friday." He began as she began looking at her phone. "I got sick."

She was still looking at her phone when she said,"Oh, I know. Stiles told me."

"Yeah, but I thought you'd want to hear it from me."

Allison looked up and waved it off. "It's fine." She seemed sort of distracted as she peered past Scott's head.

"Oh...well...ok-"

"Hey, Stiles!" Allison called suddenly.

Scott turned around to see his brother coming up behind them.

"Hey, what's up?" Stiles asked as he approached.

"My dad's here. He wants to meet you." She grabbed his arm and led him over to a black SUV.

"I don't know if I look presentable enough to be meeting your dad." Stiles joked. He'd just gotten out of P.E., but hadn't showered because he was about to go to lacrosse practice.

"You look fine." She told him. They were still far enough away that he had time to over-analyze the statement."Hey, Dad." Allison addressed the man that had gotten out of the SUV. "This is my friend, Stiles, that I was telling you about. Stiles, this is my dad, Chris Argent."

"Hi, Mr. Argent." Stiles reached his hand out to shake Chris's.

"Please, call me Chris." He told him as he shook his hand. "I just wanted to thank you in person for taking Allison home."

"Oh, believe me. It was nothing."

"It may not seem like a big deal to you, but it means a lot to me. You should join us for dinner one day. I make a mean chicken alfredo."

"I love chi-... well...food in general."

Allison giggled next to him and he didn't know her well enough to know what that meant. Chris gave a soft chuckle. "Well, I'll let Allison invite you over one day. Maybe later this week."

Stiles nodded. "Yeah, just let me know, and I'll be there." Stiles looked at his watch and his eyes widened. "I really hate to cut this conversation short, but lacrosse practice is starting soon. "

"You're on the lacrosse team?" Chris asked him.

"Yeah," Stiles nodded. "First line." He smiled proudly.

"Well," Chris said looking at Allison. "Maybe we'll have to come to a game."

"Definitely!" He turned back to Allison. "I'll see you later."

"Bye." She smiled.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Arg- I mean... Chris."

"You too, Stiles."

Stiles waved at the father and daughter then walked away, letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding in. Well, that whole thing had been confusing.

"Hey," Stiles said as he walked into the locker room and saw Scott standing in front of his locker. "So, did you get to apologize to Allison?"

"Yeah." He said in a daze.

"Did she forgive you?"

"Yeah, I guess... She wasn't really focused on what I was telling her."

"Oh." Stiles said with a confused look. "What's wrong with you?"

Scott creased his forehead, never looking in his brother's direction. "Who was that you were talking to out there?"

"Oh, that was Allison's dad." Scott nodded once. "Why?"

"That was the hunter."

"What? Allison's father?"

"Shot me. With a crossbow."

"Allison's fa-"

"Yes! Her father!" Scott began breathing heavily. "Oh my God... What do I do?"

"Did he see you?"

"I don't think so, and if he did, it didn't seem like he recognized me."

Stiles nodded and thought about it. "Do you think Allison knows about him?"

"How would I know?" Scott yelled.

Stiles shook his head. He hadn't meant to ask that out loud. "Alright, let's just forget about it then and focus on lacrosse."

Scott nodded. "Lacrosse. Got it."

* * *

"Mom! I'm home." Lydia announced as she walked into her house.

"Lydia? I'm in here." She called back. Lydia raised an eyebrow when she heard her mother's voice coming from the living room. Her mom never spent a lot of time in there. She would normally be in the kitchen or her bedroom. When Lydia walked into the room ,she saw her mother lying down on the couch with her foot propped with a pillow.

"Mom!" Lydia exclaimed. "What happened?" She asked as she raced over to the couch and examined the foot.

"I slipped coming down the stairs. Two steps from the bottom." She said in frustration. "I think I twisted my ankle."

Lydia shook her head. "I think you did more than twist it." She told her as she noticed the ugly bruise already forming. "We need to get you to a doctor. You may have broken it."

It took some convincing, but Lydia got her mother up, and together they hobbled out to Lydia's car. Lydia waited in the waiting room when her mom went back. Shortly after she left, Lydia's breath caught in her throat as she saw Aaron Gardner walk through the door with his mother.

"Go sit down and let me check you in." Aubrey told her son and he nodded. She huffed as she walked over to the receptionist. Aaron was holding his arm as he sat down across from Lydia, but didn't even seem to notice her there.

"Hey Aaron." Lydia squeaked out after a moment of silence.

Aaron looked up, a confused expression on his face. "Oh...hey, Lydia." He looked her up and down, probably trying to figure out why she was at an orthopedic office. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh...my mom. She did something to her ankle. I'm her ride. What about you? What happened?"

"Lacrosse. McCall hit me and I must have landed wrong."

"Scott?" Lydia asked, her eyes widening. That wasn't like him...unless it had something to do with this new werewolf thing. She had almost forgotten about that.

"Yeah..." He nodded. "He disappeared right after it happened. Your boyfriend took him inside I guess."

"Boyfriend?" Lydia asked with confusion.

"Yeah, his brother? Stilinski?"

Lydia almost laughed. "You thought Stiles and I were dating?!"

"You're not?"

"No! We're just friends."

Aaron nodded, but raised an eyebrow. "You kiss all of your friends like that?"

Lydia sighed."We have a unique relationship."

"Oh," He blushed slightly. "I thought you guys had been dating since middle school."

"Oh my God." Lydia groaned and covered her face, finally understanding why he never made a move. He was just a nice guy. "I feel like an ass." She told him.

"Why?" He was confused.

Lydia opened her mouth to say something, but Aubrey walked over at that moment.

"You're next." She told her son, then looked over at the girl Aaron had been talking to. "Oh, hey Lydia."

"Hey, Aubrey." Lydia smiled.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. Lydia opened her mouth to respond when Aaron interrupted.

"Wait a minute. You know my mom?" he asked her.

Lydia tried to answer that question, but Aubrey answered for her. "Lydia is friends with Melissa's sons. I see her every now and then."

Aaron creased his forehead. He knew that his mother was friends with Melissa, he knew that Scott and Stiles were Melissa's sons, and he knew that Lydia was close with them (he was just a little foggy on the details of how close they were), but he'd never put two and two together.

"Aaron Gardner." Someone with a clipboard called his name.

"Alright," Aubrey sighed. "Let's go see the damage." She stood up and Aaron stood up too. "It was nice to see you, Lydia."

"You too." Lydia smiled.

Aaron turned back to the girl. "I'll text you later." He told her, then winked. Lydia didn't say anything. She couldn't. She was too busy grinning like an idiot.

"Well, it's a broken ankle."

"That's nice." Lydia said, still smiling.

"Excuse me?" Lydia suddenly realized her mother was talking to her. She turned her head and saw her mother standing with a pair of crutches.

"Sorry. I zoned out." She stood and fixed her purse strap. "You ready to go?"

"Yes. We're going to have to stop at the pharmacy on the way home though. I have a prescription for some pain medication that needs to be filled."

* * *

"You injured my best friend's son?!" Melissa yelled from another room when the front door opened. Stiles glared at his brother.

Scott closed his eyes. "It's lacrosse?" He yelled back, then winced as he prepared for her to yell again.

"How are you feeling?" Stiles yelled. Scott gave him an appreciative glance.

"I feel fine." Melissa said as she walked into the entrance. "I told you there was no reason to worry."

"So you're going to work tonight?" Scott asked her.

"Yes. Of course. Oh, but I am asking off for your first game."

"Awesome!" Stiles smiled and forced himself not to look in Scott's direction. He may not be playing in the game if he couldn't get his shifting under control.

* * *

Lydia floated upstairs, basically on a high after her talk with Aaron. She pulled her phone out and called Stiles to tell him the good news.

"Hey, Lyd." He answered. "What's up?"

"Aaron talked to me!" She squealed.

"Uh...I thought that you _had_ been _talking..._ Remember, that whole conversation that ended in a makeout session?"

Lydia sighed. "But, remember he'd been ignoring me? Hence the _other_ makeout session?"

"Oh, right."

"Well, it turns out he thought you and I were dating!"

"But I thought that's what you wanted him to think."

"Well.. it was, but...come to find out, he's actually a nice guy and didn't want to go after a girl who was taken. And actually...he thought that we'd been dating since middle school-"

"Wait..when did you have this conversation with him?"

"Oh... at the orthopedic office. My mom broke her ankle-"

"Oh my God.. Is she okay?" He sounded concerned.

"Yeah, she's fine." Lydia blew it off. "Anyway, he showed up with his mom and we talked while Aubrey checked him in. By the way, he said that _Scott_ did that to him?"

Stiles sighed. "Yeah, he kind of wolfed out. Tried to kill me." He muttered.

"Oh my God! Are _you_ okay?"

"Yeah." Stiles told her. "He got it under control before actually making contact."

"Are you sure him playing lacrosse is a good idea? Remember, we read that the change could be brought on by anything that raises his pulse. Sports will definitely do that."

"Yeah, we're working on it." He sighed.

Lydia heard a chime in her ear. "Hold on a second. I'm getting a text." She told him and checked her phone.

 _Separated shoulder :(_ Aaron had sent her.

"Aaron texted me." She told Stiles. "He said he has a separated shoulder."

"Shit." Stiles mumbled."I'll let Scott know." He sighed. "I'm gonna let you go so you can talk to Aaron. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright, see you."

 _I'm sorry. That sucks._ She said back.

_Yeah. It does. Doc said that if the pain got too bad, I could get a cortisone shot._

_That's cool. You wouldn't want to make a habit out of it though._

_Of course not. My mom IS a nurse._ He reminded her.

_Of course._

They texted back and forth for awhile, but the next thing Lydia knew, her alarm was going off. She hadn't remembered falling asleep. She looked at her phone and saw that she had a few missed texts from Aaron.

_Lydia?_

A few minutes later, _Did you go to sleep?_

A few minutes after that. _Okay, well goodnight._

Lydia sighed contentedly and got up and got ready for school.

She was at her locker with a smile plastered on her face when she heard Stiles behind her. "Well someone's in a good mood."

"Hmm." She said happily.

"Wow! You're in a really good mood."

"I texted him all night until I fell asleep." She told him.

"Good for you." He smiled.

She nodded. "Did you talk to Allison?"

"What? No. Why?"

She shrugged. "No reason. I was just thinking that maybe we could all go on a double date."

Stiles paled. "Please tell me you didn't set us up on a double date."

"God, relax." She laughed. "I haven't set anything up...yet."

"Lyd, I swear to God-"

"Guys!" Scott appeared next to them.

"Hey, man." Stiles started when he saw his brother. "Where did you go? I got out of the jeep and you were gone."

"I had a... visitor."

Lydia cocked her head to the side sympathetically, "Was it Aunt Flo?"

Scott gave her glare. This whole werewolf thing brought on more problems than a high school sophomore should have to deal with... So forgive him if he didn't see the humor. "It was Derek."

Lydia's eyes widened and Stiles audibly gasped.

"What did he want?" Stiles asked.

"To threaten me. He told me that if I try to play in the game, he'll kill me. He saw me start to shift on the field yesterday."

"What is he? A stalker wolf?" Stiles rolled his eyes.

"You have to tell the coach you can't play." Lydia told him.

"But we're already down a player after yesterday with Aaron."

"Actually..."Lydia began. "He talked about getting a cortisone shot right before the game. So he'll still be able to play, just maybe not at his peak."

Scott looked from Lydia to Stiles.

"Talk to Coach. See what he says." Stiles told him.

Scott nodded. "Okay...but maybe I'll wait until tomorrow." At that moment, Coach walked by them muttering something about Greenberg and kicking a nearby locker in frustration. "He seems to be in a mood today."

Stiles nodded. "Yeah, good idea."

"Hey, guys!" Allison smiled brightly as she walked up to the group.

"Hey, Allison." They all told her in their own ways.

Lydia's eyes lit up for a moment as if getting a thought, "Hey, can you come to my house after school?" she asked the brunette.

"Uh..." Allison began and Scott heard her heartbeat pick up and pound loudly in his ears, then suddenly it was gone. He wasn't used to focusing his hearing just yet. "I'll have to ask my aunt if it's okay. She uh...needed my car for later."

"Oh, if you need to, I can follow you home and then drive back to my house. Or, we could just hang out at yours-"

"No!" Allison said quickly, the other three friends jumped at her suddenness and gave her a confused look. "I mean...the house is just a mess still. We have boxes everywhere and...it's just not pretty."

"Okay," Lydia said slowly. "Well, that's fine... just uh...let me know what she says."

Allison nodded. "Yeah sure thing." The bell rang suddenly. "Time for English." She smiled and walked off toward the classroom, the other three friends exchanging looks behind her back before following her toward their class.

At lunch Allison sat her tray down next to Lydia. "So my aunt texted me back. She and my dad said that they would come get the car if you wanted to just take me back to your house."

"Yeah, that sounds great." Lydia smiled. "I really need some girl talk time."

"Oh thank God." Stiles sighed. "I love you to death, Lyd, but if I have to hear one more thing about-"

"Aaron!" Lydia said loudly with wide eyes. Stiles wrinkled his forehead in confusion and turned around to see the team captain behind him.

"Hey, Lydia."

"Hey Aaron." Scott said. "Look, I'm really sorry about yesterday."

Aaron waved him off. "Dude, it's fine. It's lacrosse. If my mom thought that I would never get hurt playing a sport, then she was totally unprepared to raise a boy. Plus, it was probably my fault anyway."

"Yeah, totally." Stiles quickly agreed with him. "You're still going to play the game on Saturday. Right?"

"That's the plan." Aaron told him.

"Good." Lydia smiled, flirtatiously. "I'm going to be there and I'm looking forward to watching you play."

Aaron mirrored her expression. "Well, I'm looking forward to seeing you watch me play." Stiles creased his forehead as he replayed the sentence in his head. Allison stifled a laugh. Lydia giggled. "Well, uh..." He began again after a moment. "I should go. I have to talk to Coach before class. See you guys."

* * *

"Allison!" Lydia called as she walked up to her friend's locker. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yep." Allison told her as she threw her bag over her shoulder. "Let's go."

"My car is the blue one over there." Lydia pointed.

"Oh, I like that color."

"Thanks." She smiled.

"So," Allison began when she climbed into the car. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Nothing." Lydia said as she started the car. "Everything. I feel like I don't know you and you're like one of the first girls I've met that I could see being a really good friend. I just want us to get to know each other and spend time together."

Allison bit her lip. "Okay..."

Lydia saw the expression out of the corner of her eye. "What was that about?"

"What?"

"That look. You looked...I don't know...worried."

Allison shrugged. "I don't know...it's just...I've never been good at making friends at my other schools. Once people get to know me, they don't want anything to do with me."

"That's terrible!" Lydia said in shock. "Why would anybody not want to be your friend?"

"If I tell you, then you may not want to be my friend either."

"That would never happen." Lydia said, but Allison only looked down. "But," She began again. "If you don't feel comfortable about telling me yet, then that's okay. When you're ready to tell me, I'll be ready to listen."

The brunette gave her a half smile. "Thanks for not pushing it."

Lydia nodded. "No problem."

* * *

"Stiles?" Kayce asked as she walked over to where Stiles was sitting on the couch next to Scott. "Can you help me?" She handed her older brother a piece of paper and Stiles saw it was a math worksheet.

"Sure. Do you not understand it?" Kayce shook her head. "Alright, let's sit at the table." He told her and led her over to the kitchen table.

"What is it?" Scott asked his siblings as they walked away.

"Math." Stiles told him.

"Kayce," Scott began, "Why don't you ever come to me with homework questions?" Kayce's eyes widened at Scott, then she turned to look at Stiles.

"Um..." Kayce started, afraid to tell him the truth. "Well..." Luckily for Kayce the doorbell rang at that exact moment.

"Saved by the bell." Scott told her jokingly and got up to answer it. Aubrey stood there and Scott felt his blood run cold. She quickly pushed past him and he began trying to explain himself. "Hey, Aubrey...look I didn't mean to hurt Aaron. It was an accident. He must have just landed funny and I-"

"Wait." Aubrey stopped him. "What? What are going on about?" Then her eyebrow raised. "And did you just call me _Aubrey_?"

Scott looked around. "Uh...yes...Am I supposed to call you Mrs. Gardner now?"

Aubrey made a disgusted face. "Ugh, no. Never call me that. It's just you've always called me Aubie."

Scott looked down. "Well...I can say my 'R's now...so."

Stiles stifled his laughter from behind his brother, then quickly tried to continue his conversation with Kayce.

Aubrey shook her head. "Okay, one, I kind of prefer Aubie from you kids. You guys calling me Aubrey to my face makes me feel old. Two, I don't care about Aaron getting hurt..Well I mean I care, but I don't care how it happened. He's playing sports, it was bound to happen sometime. Three, where's your mom? She's the reason I'm here."

"Oh...well mom's upstairs in her room I think."

"Thanks." Aubrey ran up the stairs and Scott exchanged looks with Stiles who was having a really hard time keeping a straight face.

"By the way," Stiles started, "The reason Kayce comes to me for help? It's because I'm smarter."

Kayce's eyes widened and she covered her brother's mouth. "Shh!"

Scott sighed and shook his head.

* * *

"So, then what happened?" Allison asked Lydia.

Lydia shrugged. "Nothing... yet. We've just texted a few times, but now that he knows I'm not taken, he seems more willing to move things forward."

"That's good!" Allison replied and looked down at her fingernails. Both of them were laying on Lydia's bed, on their stomachs. "So, he thought you and Stiles had been dating since middle school?"

Lydia nodded. "Yeah, I mean... I guess we spent a lot of time together-"

"You act like a couple." Allison said point blank.

"Yeah...wait, what?"

"You act like a couple." She said each word slowly. "I mean, you guys are constantly touching each other whether you realize it or not. You flirt with each other, again...whether you realize it or not. And...I've seen you guys make out," She made a face. "It's pretty intense. You don't act like friends."

"But that's just how we've always acted around each other."

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing... I'm just saying that's the way it's perceived. Now, Aaron knows the truth and I know the truth so it doesn't really matter what anybody else thinks."

Lydia nodded slowly and looked over at Allison. "Oh my God!" She suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Allison looked surprised.

"You totally like Stiles! I knew it!"

"What? No! Lydia, I told you...I mean... yeah he's hot, but I'm not looking for a boyfriend."

"But if you were looking for a boyfriend, you would want him to be it, right?"

Allison hesitated. "I..."

"I knew it!"

Allison sighed. "Lydi-"

"Come on, Allison! What's stopping you?"

"I just... I haven't had much luck with guys...like ever. All of my relationships end really badly, so I decided to take a break from dating. Just focus on me and my...family." Allison took a deep breath. "Plus, Stiles seems like a really nice guy and I wouldn't want to bring him into my craziness."

"Believe me, those boys have enough craziness happening right now."

"All the more reason for me to not pursue anything."

"No, all the more reason to pursue it! He can handle crazy."

"Lydia, can we please not talk about this right now?"

Lydia sighed. "Sure."

Allison looked at the time. "We should really probably get going back to my house."

"Alright," Lydia said as she sat up on the bed. "Let's go."

* * *

"Hey, Scott?" Allison began as she walked up to his locker. "Can I talk to you?" Scott turned to look at her and seemed sort of confused.

"Uh, sure." It was lunch time so they didn't really have anywhere to be, except the cafeteria.

"Outside?" He immediately thought the worst. Her dad knew what Scott was, and Allison knew what her dad was, and this was how he was going to die.

"What's wrong with inside?" He stuttered as he looked around.

Allison blushed. "There are too many ears here and it's kind of...embarrassing."

"Um... okay." He said slowly. He closed his locker and followed Allison out the front doors. "So, what did you want to talk about?" Scott pressed when Allison was quiet for several moments.

"Um...well...God...this is really embarrassing... but um...does Stiles like me?"

Scott's eyes widened. "Uh... what?" That was definitely not what he was expecting.

Allison shook her head and quickly followed up with, "Not because I'm asking because I'm too afraid to ask him myself... it's just..." She sighed. "Okay, look...the thing is, is that I kind of told Lydia that I liked him," Then she quickly added "But I don't...well I do... but I don't want a relationship right now. And Lydia keeps mentioning double dates and I just...I don't want to hurt his feelings if Lydia is pushing this on him too and... I want him to know that it's not me." She took a deep breath and looked down. "Can you just...tell him I said that? Because I don't know Lydia that well, but she seems like one of those people, that as soon as she gets an idea she runs with it no matter what."

Scott nodded. "Yeah, I'll tell him."

"Thank you." They stood there awkwardly for a moment before Allison pointed toward the doors. "We should probably get to lunch."

Scott seemed to shake himself out of a daze. " Yeah."

Stiles turned his head toward the doors to the cafeteria, then took a look around.

Lydia sighed. "They'll be here."

"But, Scott doesn't normally do this. What if Allison's dad has him or something."

She shook her head. "You need to stop imagining the worst." Lydia took a bite of her yogurt then looked back up. "Look, there they are now. You were worried for nothing."

"Sorry we're late." Allison apologized as she sat next to Lydia. "I had to ask Scott something."

"It's fine." Stiles said, acting as if he wasn't just freaking out then, the gave his brother a suspicious look. Scott only shrugged in response.

"So, Allison," Lydia began. "Are you going to the boys' first lacrosse game?"

Allison sighed. "Yeah."

Stiles made a face, "Hey...if it's such a chore to come see us, then you can stay at home." He joked.

"No!" Allison said quickly. "It's not that...it's just that my dad is talking about going too.

"Oh?" Lydia asked, and she exchanged looks with the brothers.

"Yeah, I'm..." She groaned. "My dad can be kind of embarrassing when it comes to sports. "

"This girl, Malia," Scott began. "Gets _really_ into the games. She almost got kicked out of a game last year."

"You know," Stiles said after a moment. "I still haven't seen her. You don't think she was the body they found, do you?"

Scott shook his head. "No, remember, I saw the girl's face. It wasn't Malia."

"Then I wonder if she had anything to do with it." Lydia piped up. Stiles and Scott both snapped their heads in surprise at her.

"Seriously, Lyds?" Stiles asked.

"What?" Lydia looked at her friends' reactions. Allison just looked confused. "Malia used to be one of my best friends," Lydia explained to the brunette. "Until her family's house burned down a few years back. She sort of became a different person after that." She turned to address the two brothers. "At this point, I wouldn't put anything past her."

"Oh, Scott." Stiles quickly changed the subject. "You talked to Coach today. Right?" Scott nodded. "What did he say?"

Scott shook his head. He'd have to play.

"What'd you have to talk to him about?" Allison asked.

"Uh.." Scott tried to come up with something. "My um...my knee...it um..it hurts so I asked Coach if I could sit out of practice."

"And he said 'no'?" Allison was appalled.

"Well, not exactly." He tried to correct himself. "He said that if I didn't practice then I couldn't play in the game this weekend." Then, for his brother's benefit, he added, "And if I don't play in the game this weekend, he's taking me off of first line."

"Well, maybe you should just not play in the game." Stiles said absentmindedly. Lydia raised her eyebrows at him and Scott turned his head to look at his brother.

"What?" Scott asked.

"I uh..." Stiles stuttered. "I just mean, that if you play _today_ ,then that's not going to help your _knee_ on Saturday. I mean...Coach will probably forgive you before next week and by then maybe you won't be _in pain."_

Scott shook his head. "You didn't hear Coach when I was talking to him. I think if I miss the game, I won't have to worry about that killer running around Beacon Hills. Coach will kill me himself."

"Unless, Coach _is_ the killer." Lydia mumbled. The boys turned to look at her with wrinkled foreheads. Lydia looked up at them in confusion. "Did I say that out loud?" Before the boys had time to answer, she quickly changed the subject, "Oh! You know what we should do? We should all go out after the game! It'll be fun!"

"Yeah, that's sound great." Scott told her.

Stiles nodded and the friends all looked to Allison.

"Uh..." Allison began when she realized they were all staring at her. "Yeah, maybe."

* * *

Scott was coming out of his history class the next day when Stiles grabbed him and spun him around toward the hallway. The sheriff was standing there, talking to some of the school officials.

"Can you hear what they're saying?" Stiles asked his brother.

Scott attempted to focus his hearing and Stiles turned around to see Lydia coming up behind him. He put his finger to his lips so that she wouldn't say anything. Scott turned back to them.

"There's a curfew. Because of the body."

Stiles rolled his eyes. "Unbelievable! He's out there looking for a rabid animal when the jerkoff who actually killed her is just hanging out doing whatever he wants."

"Well, we can't exactly just tell him the truth about Derek."

"Well, what if we found the other half of the body?" The brothers turned their heads to Lydia. "What?"

"Lydia, you're a genius!" Stiles said with excitement.

"I know." She said with a hint of confusion. Stiles walked off suddenly and Lydia and Scott exchanged glances. "What did I just do?" She asked him in concern.

"I think you may have awakened a beast."

"I should go after him." She said, then walked off in the direction Stiles had gone. Scott shook his head with a chuckle and began to slowly turn around, but there was a suddenly a hand on his shoulder that sped up that process.

"Allison?" Scott asked in confusion. She looked upset.

"Is this your idea of some sick joke?"

Scott's eyes widened. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Derek."

Scott's blood ran cold. "What did he do?"

"Oh, like you don't know."

"I don't! Honestly, Allison. I'd never met him before a couple of days ago. What did he tell you? Did he hurt you?"

She shook her head and sniffed. "He told me to give you a message. He wants you to remember the promise he made to you." The one that if he played in the game, Derek would kill him. "I don't want to see him again." She told him then walked away.

Stiles was talking to Lydia down the hall when he looked up and saw Allison coming toward him.

"Allison?" He questioned, cutting Lydia off. "Hey, are you okay?" No sooner had he gotten the words out, Allison had her arms around him and her head buried in his shoulder. It caught him by surprise, but he quickly responded by wrapping his arms around her. He could feel her tiny frame shaking with sobs and he gave Lydia a look that told her, he was completely confused by what was going on. He looked back up at the spot where Scott had been standing just a moment before, but he was gone.

* * *

When Scott got home after work, Stiles and Lydia were doing homework in the kitchen.

"Dude," Stiles addressed him. "Allison is pissed at you. And where did you go?"

Scott sighed and dropped his bag. "She's pissed because Derek basically accosted her this afternoon. So, I went to pay him a visit."

"By yourself?" Lydia asked.

He nodded, the whispered. "Guys, I smelled blood."

"Oh my God!" Stiles exclaimed in excitement as he stood up. Lydia gave him a look and he cleared his throat. "I mean..." He said slowly as he sat back down and, more solemnly, repeated, "Oh my God! Whose blood?"

Scott shrugged. "I don't know. I need your help. We'll figure it out, help dad nail Derek for murder then you can help figure out how to control my shifts because there's no way I'm _not_ playing in that game."

"Okay," Lydia began as she slowly stood up. "Well, if you guys are going to do this, then I'll just-"

"Lydia, I need you too." Scott said.

Lydia sighed and plopped back down. "Yeah, okay."

* * *

Stiles pulled into a parking spot in front of the hospital. "Oh, hey." He said, the sight of the medical establishment jogging his memory. "Did you know that Mom had a doctor's appointment today?"

"What?" Scott asked turning to his brother.

"Yeah," Lydia piped up. "We overheard your parents talking, but we couldn't hear much and they were being really secretive."

"Huh..." Scott mumbled.

"I mean, where's a werewolf with super hearing when you need one? Am I right?" Stiles joked, but Scott was already opening the passenger's side door. Stiles turned around to exchange glances with Lydia before climbing out of the jeep.

The plan was for Lydia and Stiles to distract the nurses at the front so that Scott could sneak past and down to the morgue. They had to make sure that the blood he smelled at Derek's house, belonged to the girl.

"Hey, Louise." Stiles addressed one of the women at the desk.

"Stiles? What are you doing here?"

"Uh," Stiles began as he saw Scott sneak around. "Is my mom here?"

Louise gave Stiles a curious look. "You know as well as I do that your mom is off on Thursdays."

"It's Thursday?!" He sighed. "Sorry, Lydia." Lydia widened her eyes at him.

"Did you need something, sweetheart?" Louise directed her attention to Lydia.

Lydia opened her mouth to say something, but Stiles spoke first. "She just really needed to talk to a woman about some...things."

Lydia shot daggers in Stiles's direction. "Actually," she began. _"Sweetie,"_ She emphasized and touched his chest flirtatiously. Stiles's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "It's okay to tell Louise." Stiles widened his eyes back at her and felt his cheeks heat up. Lydia smiled smugly and turned back to the lady at the desk. "Stiles and I are thinking about taking things to the next level." She giggled. "But, he was actually really concerned about what to do...you know...for _me."_ Lydia batted her eyelashes.

Stiles suddenly couldn't speak. His mouth was dry and apparently had just stopped producing saliva altogether.

Louise smiled sympathetically. "Stiles, come with me." She stood up and went around the desk. He was opening and closing his mouth, but no sounds were coming out. When Louise put her hand on his back, Stiles couldn't stop his feet from moving. He gave one last look over his shoulder at Lydia, his face full of panic, before the door closed behind him.

"Lydia?" Lydia held her breath as she heard his voice.

"Aaron!" She said as she turned around. "What are you doing here?"

"My shoulder was killing me, so the doctor gave me a cortisone shot."

"You're getting another one before the game too, right?"

"Yeah, the doctor just told me not to make a habit out of it. Was that Stilinski that was just here?"

"Oh, yeah." Lydia paused. "Wait... how much of that did you hear?"

He shook his head and looked down at his feet. "I probably just walked in at a bad time."

Lydia sighed. "Well, you probably heard it correctly, but it was a joke. I swear."

Aaron waved his hand in front of him. "It's fine. You don't have to explain anything to me."

"But I want to!" Lydia said before she could think about it, then began to blush.

Aaron smiled, then after a moment asked. "Hey, what are you doing after the game?"

Lydia was about to say 'nothing' when she remembered she'd made plans. Sighing, she told him "I made plans to hang out with Allison, Scott, and Stiles..." She saw a look cross his face, one that she interpreted as 'she keeps saying she's not dating him, but she's sure spending a lot of time with him'. "You should join us!" She offered before her brain had time to process the implications.

He nodded. "Yeah, sure. Can Danny come?"

"Of course! The more the merrier!" She smiled brightly.

"Lydia!" She heard from behind her and saw Scott. "Oh, hey Aaron. Are you okay?"

Aaron shrugged. "It still hurts a little, but it'll be fine. See you guys at school tomorrow."

"Bye." Lydia waved.

"Where's Stiles?" Scott asked her.

Lydia opened her mouth to tell him, when the door opened and Louise was saying, "And just remember. No means no. It doesn't matter if your little soldier's all ready for battle. If the troops are retreating, he'll just have to find another way to let out all of that...shall we say 'adrenaline.'"

Stiles nodded and turned toward the Scott and Lydia, who were trying unsuccessfully to hold back their laughter. She didn't understand how, but Stiles was pale and beet red at the same time.

"Stil-" Lydia started, but Stiles put his hand up to stop her.

"Don't."

Lydia bit her lip to stop the smile forming.

"What was that about?" Scott asked completely confused.

Stiles shook his head. "It doesn't matter. What'd you find out?"

He nodded. "It was the same."

"So, he did kill her." Lydia commented.

"And buried her body in his yard." Stiles added. He motioned with his head to walk out the doors and the three of them made their way back to the car.

"So what should we do with this information?" Lydia asked.

"We should use it." Stiles said.

"How?" Scott asked.

"Is it too much to hope," Lydia began. "That you just want to call in an anonymous tip to the sheriff's department."

Stiles only glared at Lydia as he said, "We're going to need a shovel." Stiles opened his door and pushed the seat forward so that Lydia could climb in, then he got in. As he sat down, he was reminded of what was in his back pocket. In frustration, he reached in and pulled out an entire roll of condoms and groaned. "I don't know what to do with these."

"You mean Louise didn't tell you?" Lydia smirked.

Stiles whipped his head around and threw the condoms at her. "I hate you so much for that."

"Oh, you love me." Lydia said through laughter.

"No. It was the most..."

"Informative?" Lydia offered.

" _Traumatizing_ experience I've ever had to sit through. I know it didn't last that long but it felt like it just went on forever."

* * *

The next day after Scott got out of work, Stiles and Lydia were there to pick him up. They drove out to the woods and began the walk to Derek's house in the dark.

"Ouch! Guys, stop walking so fast!" Lydia whined.

"You were the one stupid enough to wear heels knowing we were going to be in the woods." Stiles laughed.

"Wearing heels has nothing to do with it. I could run a marathon in heels."

"Both of you, shut up! We don't know where he is, and he could hear us coming if he's around."

As they neared the house, they noticed that he was leaving.

"Come on, let's go!" Stiles said and jogged off with Scott right behind him. Lydia caught up with them just as Scott sniffed the air.

"Something's different." He told them.

"Different?" Lydia asked, out of breath.

"Different how?" Stiles questioned.

Scott shook his head. "I don't know... let's just get this over with."

Scott and Stiles began to pick and shovel their way into the ground, while Lydia stood back. "You guys do that, I'm just..." She was still trying to catch her breath. "I'm just gonna..." She didn't finish her sentence, she motioned around with her finger, to say she was going to stay where she was and be the lookout.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but she'd found a nearby stump and had sat herself down what felt like ages ago.

"This is taking too long." Scott finally said.

"Just keep going." Stiles was determined.

"What if he comes back?"

"Well, that's what Lydia's for."

Lydia's ears perked up. "I'm the bait?!"

"No! You're the distraction. You play the damsel in distress, lost in the woods while we get the hell out of here."

"What?!" She yelled angrily.

"And what if he still sees us and tries to chase after us?" Scott asked before Stiles had a chance to respond to Lydia's outburst.

"I have a plan for that too."

"Which is?" Lydia asked as she crossed her arms and glared at him.

"I run one way, Scott runs the other... whoever he catches first...too bad."

Scott shook his head. "I hate that plan."

Stiles stopped suddenly. "Wait! Stop!"

Lydia looked over at the boys who were now in a giant hole and leaning over to look at something.

"Did you find something?" She asked as she stood up. They didn't answer her. "Guys! What'd you find?" As she neared the edge of the hole, both boys screamed and jumped out.

"What the hell is that?!" Stiles yelled and Lydia ran forward and looked down to see what it was.

"It's a wolf." Scott voiced her thought.

"No, I can see that." Stiles was saying. "But I thought you said you smelled blood. Like human blood."

Scott shrugged. "I told you something was different." The boys began to try to cover their efforts and Lydia looked up, a purple flower catching her attention.

"Hey, Stiles? What does that flower look like to you?" She asked.

Stiles had already seen it and was walking toward it. "Wolfsbane." He confirmed her suspicions.

He picked up the flower and there was a piece of rope attached to it. The rope made a spiral around the hole and once he'd pulled it all up, he heard Lydia gasp.

"That's Laura Hale."

"Are you sure?" Scott asked.

Lydia nodded and turned away from them. "Laura used to babysit me. It's how I got so close to Malia."

"Malia!" Scott said realization.

"Now that we know the dead girl is her sister," Stiles began. "It makes you wonder where's she's been."

"What if she's hurt?" Scott asked.

"Or," Stiles countered. "What if she's hiding out because she's the one who killed her."

"And Derek's covering for her." Lydia continued.

Scott shook his head. "She wouldn't do that. She loves her sister."

"None of us really know her anymore." Lydia reasoned. "She changed after the fire. Who knows what she's capable of."

Before Scott could respond, Stiles pulled his phone out. "We need to call Dad and let him know we found the other half of the body."


	3. Pack Mentality

The sun was beginning to rise when the sheriff got to the Hale residence, and the kids made up a story about how Lydia had buried something in the yard when she was younger and they were looking for it.

They were 90% sure their dad didn't believe them, but he didn't push the issue. Derek had come home and surrendered himself willingly, and they kids had been sent home.

"He gave up way too easy. Didn't he?" Stiles asked Scott suddenly. They had already dropped off Lydia at her house and they were on the way back to theirs.

"So? What does it matter? He's locked up, and I can play in the game and not have to worry about him."

"Well, what if he went so willingly because he knows they won't be able to prove he killed her. I mean, at this point, the only thing he's possibly guilty of is moving the body and tampering with evidence."

"But, he did it, Stiles! You know it and I know it. There has to be some sort of evidence."

"I hope there is." Stiles told him.

* * *

Lydia got to the lacrosse field several hours later and began to walk toward the bleachers when she heard a tiny voice yell her name.

"Lydia!" She looked around and finally spotted Kayce with her parents, the six year-old waving frantically. Lydia smiled and waved back before walking over to the family. Kayce was sitting between her parents.

"Is this seat taken?" Lydia asked Melissa, who didn't have anybody on the other side of her.

"All yours!" She smiled. Lydia sat down, and Kayce immediately got up and squeezed herself between Melissa and Lydia. Kayce began rattling off about her day to Lydia, and the teenager politely listening and encouraged her. Aubrey showed up a few minutes later with her daughters, RaeLee and Nessa. The three of them sat on the bleacher behind them and Kayce got up again and sat next to Nessa, who was only 6 months older than her.

"She can't sit still can she?" Lydia chuckled to Melissa.

Melissa shook her head. "It must be the Stilinski in her, because she's exactly like Stiles." Lydia smiled and looked away. Her eyes landing on an attractive older gentleman. She was wondering who he was when he turned to a brunette.

"Oh my God! That's Allison!" Lydia began to wave and call her best friend's name, then imagined she probably looked a lot like Kayce did several minutes before.

Allison saw her and smiled, then headed toward them, the gentleman close behind her.

"Hey, Lydia. This is my dad."

"So you're Lydia." He reached his hand out to shake hers. "Allison's told me a lot about you." Mr. Argent turned to Melissa. "And are you her mother?"

Melissa opened her mouth to explain, but Lydia beat her to it. "Oh, no! This is Scott and Stiles's mom, Melissa."

"Thank you, Lydia." Melissa said, then turned back to Allison's father. "Melissa Stilinski. And this is my husband-"

"He's the sheriff!" A bouncy voice interrupted her. Melissa turned around to her daughter that had just screamed in her ear.

"And this is my daughter, Kayce."

"Hi!" the six year-old said brightly. "You're pretty!" She told Allison.

"Awe, thank you! You're very pretty too! I love your dress."

"Thank you!"

Mr. Argent had begun to carry on a conversation with the Sheriff and sat down near him.

"Sit by me!"Lydia said to Allison, as she patted the empty spot next to her on the bleacher. No sooner had Allison sat down, Kayce had climbed back down and squished herself between the two teenagers.

"Kayce," Melissa began to scold. "You need to pick a spot and stay there." Kayce looked around, as if trying to decide "How about you come sit between me and daddy?"

"No!" she pouted. "I want to sit with Lydia and Allison."

"I can't see you over there," Melissa lied, knowing that the girls probably wanted to talk to each other without a six year-old between them. "Either come sit here, or sit with Aubie and Nessa."

Kayce huffed before getting up again and going back to her seat next to Nessa.

Lydia mouthed a 'thank you' to Melissa, who smiled and nodded in reply.

"She's adorable." Allison told Lydia.

"Yeah, just FYI, she'll probably move spots a few more times before the end of the night."

Allison laughed and nodded ."Good to know."

Before long, the game had started. Scott, Stiles, and Aaron each pulled their own weight. Kayce moved at least three more times and finally ended up between her mom and Lydia once more. Towards the end of the match, the Sheriff's phone began to ring and Lydia was listening carefully to what he was telling the person on the other end.

Scott had just gotten the ball, when his hearing picked up the sound of his dad's phone ringing. He got distracted momentarily, and didn't see the player coming from his left, knocking into him. As he fell to the ground the ball went flying out of the netting. He didn't see what happened, but he heard the home crowd begin to cheer and got up in time to see Stiles make the goal. Scott slammed his fist into the ground out of frustration. He was mad at himself for not paying attention, but when he realized that his brother had just made the winning shot, he smiled and pulled himself up off of the ground and ran forward to congratulate him.

It was pure luck that Stiles was where he was when Scott lost the ball. They couldn't have planned it better if they tried. Stiles wasn't even sure the ball had actually hit the ground once it left Scott's possession, before he got it and continued running, shooting it and watching it whiz past the goalie. Before he had time to register that he had just scored the game-winning goal, he was being attacked by his fellow teammates, receiving hugs and pats on the back. Then he saw Scott.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah..pissed as hell that I got distracted, but I'm glad it was you that won the game for us." Scott said, with a pat on his back.

"Stiles!" They heard a small voice, and crowd seemed to part to let the little girl through. She jumped into her brother's arms and hugged him. "You did so good!"

"You both played very well." Melissa said as she walked up behind her. "I'm so proud of both of you." She patted Scott's shoulder "What happened out there?" She asked him.

He shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't see him coming. I'm just glad Stiles was there."

"Hey, I'm always going to have your back." Stiles said, returning the pat his brother had just given him.

"Let's go out and celebrate." Melissa suggested.

"We were going to go out with the girls." Scott told her.

"Yeah," Stiles said. "We've been planning it all week."

Melissa sighed, "Well I guess we'll go out tomorrow then."

"Hey, boys!" The Sheriff addressed as he walked up to his sons. "You were both fantastic!"

"They've got plans tonight." Melissa told her husband. "We'll do something tomorrow."

He nodded and Lydia appeared from behind them. "I need to talk to you guys later." She mumbled to the boys, before hugging them both.

"Mr. Arg- I mean, Chris!" Stiles finally put his little sister down, so that he could shake the man's hand.

"You were great." He said, then looked to Scott. "Both of you. You must be Scott."

Scott nodded and reluctantly extended his hand. "And you're Allison's dad."

"Chris." He corrected.

"Hey," Stiles smiled as he saw Allison. "I saw you and Lydia out there cheering us on."

"Not that you guys needed any extra help from us." She smiled. "You were both really good. Well...I'm assuming, since you kept making goals and everyone said you were really good. I still really don't know much about lacrosse."

"Maybe I can teach you... sometime." As soon as he said it, he became slightly unsure of himself. He hadn't meant for it to come out flirty, but he was well aware there was _something_ there with Allison, but Scott had also told him that Allison was not the one pushing Lydia to put the two of them together.

Allison cocked her head to the side as if trying to understand what Stiles meant by his statement before smiling and nodding. "Yeah...yeah that...that'd be fun." Now he was confused. Did Allison change her mind about not wanting a boyfriend, or did she know he didn't mean for it to come across the way it did?

"Okay..."He said, now unsure of how to proceed.

"Okay." She said back, with equal insecurity.

"Okay!" Lydia broke in, clearly sensing the awkward tension rising. "Ready to go?"

"Stiles and I have to change first, but if you want to meet us in the parking lot?"

"Sounds good." Lydia answered for Allison before grabbing her arm and leading her away from the crowd. Scott and Stiles began walking toward the locker rooms as it seemed their parents had left. Scott suddenly heard his name and turned around to see Lydia running up to them. "Hey, I told her I left something in the stands, but I wanted to tell you first... Right at the end of the game, your dad got phone call. I sort of eves-dropped on his conversation, but you should know... The medical examiner took a look at the body and determined cause of death to be an animal...and since Derek is a human, he couldn't have killed her, so they released him."

"Shit." Scott mumbled.

"That means he could be out here looking for us, since we're the ones who got him brought in in the first place." Stiles was suddenly coming down off the high he was on after winning the game.

"Just thought you should know." She shrugged. "See you in a few minutes."

"Did you find it?" Allison asked when Lydia walked back over to her.

"Yep!" Lydia replied, pulling some lip gloss out of her purse. "Also, Aaron just texted me. He and Danny aren't going to come so it'll just be the four of us. So, I guess you and I can take my car and then Stiles and Scott can take the jeep." Allison nodded and bit her lip like she was thinking about saying something. "Yes?" Lydia asked slowly.

"Okay..."Allison took a deep breath. "I think...I don't know."

"Okay, I'm going to need a little more information here."

"Well...I said I didn't know much about lacrosse and Stiles said he could teach me and I said okay."

Lydia wrinkled her forehead in confusion. "Okay?"

"Well...I don't know what that means."

"It's sounds like he's going to tell you about lacrosse."

"But, is that really what it sounds like? Because, the way it came across sounded like it meant...more."

"Well...did you want it to mean more? I mean.. you're the one who keeps saying you don't want a boyfriend."

"I never said I didn't _want_ a boyfriend-"

"I'm pretty sure you did."

"Whatever...if I said it, that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I mean, that I don't _need_ a boyfriend...Or I guess more specifically, that a boy wouldn't want to be my boyfriend."

"Well, that's just crazy! There are plenty of guys that would kill to be your boyfriend!"

"Well, maybe before they get to know me. I'm... I'm damaged, Lydia."

"You can't be as damaged as some people I know."

Allison scoffed. "I'm probably _more_ damaged than some of the people you know."

"Well, then you should tell me what makes you so damaged and I'll let you know."

Allison shook her head. "No...not...not yet."

Lydia sighed. "Look, I don't think there's anything you could tell me that would make me want to stop being your friend. Even if you told me you'd killed somebody. I'd be okay with it because I don't think you'd kill me, and that's all that matters." Lydia smiled and Allison laughed.

"Well, I didn't kill anyone, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Well, that's good." They heard Stiles say. "I told Scott you didn't seem like the killer type." He joked.

"Ready to go?" Scott asked.

The girls nodded and head toward Lydia's car. "Actually," Stiles stopped them. "Is it okay if Allison rides with me and Scott goes with Lydia?"

"That's fine with me." Lydia said quickly and smiled.

Allison's eyes widened for a moment before saying, "Yeah.. Yeah sure. I'll go with you."

"We'll meet you guys at Tate's." Scott said as he got into Lydia's car.

Stiles and Allison climbed into the jeep, and Stiles just sat there, not starting it or anything.

"Um...Stiles, are we going to go?" Allison asked.

"Yeah in a minute, I just... I wanted to talk to you. It's just I'm... I'm confused."

"Sexually?" Allison deadpanned, bringing up the inside joke from the first time she met him.

Stiles laughed and shook his head. "No... I just...I feel like there's a lot of mixed signals happening from both of us and I wanted to talk about it."

"Well, that's a very mature thing to do."

He shrugged. "I try." He sighed and began again, "I know you don't want a relationship right now, and that's fine. This whole time I've been saying that I just want to be friends right now and see what happens, but I was just talking to Scott and..." He took a deep breath. "Wow... so all of that courage I had just drained completely out of me." He laughed nervously. Allison reached her hand over and held his. His breath caught in his throat for a moment as he looked back up at her and she smiled. "I like you, Allison." He sighed, "And I know you don't want to start anything and that's okay, I just-"

She cut him off with a kiss. It took him a moment to register what was happening but when he did he kissed her back, cupping her face with his free hand. She let go of his hand and tangled hers in his hair. His newly freed hand went to her waist where her shirt had come up slightly and he was suddenly touching bare skin.

Allison broke the kiss first and pulled away only slightly. Their faces were still only about an inch apart.

"Wow." She breathed. "Yeah...definitely not gay." She smirked. Stiles chuckled and shook his head. "I like you too." She told him, "I just...I don't have the best luck when it comes to relationships."

"Then we don't have to have a relationship. I'm fine with the kissing." He joked.

Allison chuckled, "So basically the same friendship you have with Lydia?"

Stiles hesitated. "Me and Lydia...that's... that's not what I want with you." Allison smiled. "What if we just dated. It doesn't have to be a relationship like boyfriend girlfriend... it's just dating...it's not official and we can see other people if we want...But our friendship comes first. If we decide it won't work out then we go back to being friends.. but... if we decide it's going somewhere then we can do that too."

Allison nodded slowly. "Okay. Dating. I can do that. Then you can decide if you really want to be with me once you get to know me."

"I was thinking more of the other way around, but sure." They sat there for a moment in an awkward silence. "So...Tate's?" He asked finally as he turned around in his seat and started the jeep.

"Yes! Food. Starving." Allison looked up at him. "Uh, Stiles?"

"Yeah?" He asked as he pulled out of the parking spot he was in.

"Just FYI, I think you're wearing more of my lip gloss than I am at the moment."

"Shit." He muttered as he tried to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand and Allison tried to stifle her laughter.

When they walked into Tate's a few minutes later, Scott and Lydia made the whole thing feel awkward. They kept giving them looks and winking. Stiles and Allison did their best to ignore it, but once they left, being alone with them made it worse.

"Spill it!" Lydia demanded once she and Allison were in the car alone.

"Spill what?"

"What happened with you and Stiles?"

"Nothing." Allison shrugged.

Lydia scoffed. "Oh please! As if I'd believe that! It was awkward as hell in there, so something happened... just tell me!"

"Nothing happened, Lydia." She said entirely too convincing. "It was only awkward because Scott kept making kissing faces, and you just kept smiling and blinking uncontrollably, not saying anything." Well...it was true.

"I wasn't blinking uncontrollably."

"What do you call this?" Allison gave a few over-exaggerated winks.

"I was winking not blinking...there's a difference...but if you say nothing happened, then...okay. I believe you." Something in her voice made it sound like she really didn't believe her.

"You kissed her didn't you?" Scott pestered on their way home.

"Shut up." Stiles groaned.

"I knew it. You guys were so weird when you got there."

Stiles sighed. "Well, to be fair, she kissed me, to begin with."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, I started my whole speech, and then I started rambling, so I guess she just wanted to shut me up."

"So? What'd you decide?"

"We're going to go on a date... I guess.. at some point. But just dating...until we decide we want it to be more. She's kind of afraid of relationships, and-"

"And you've never been in one." Scott interrupted. Stiles didn't say anything and he immediately second-guessed himself. "Unless you and Lydia..."

"No! God, Scott... for the last time. Lydia and I have never and will never be a thing."

Scott shrugged, "Never say never."

"We're talking about Allison."

"Yeah...so when's your first date? _"_ Stiles opened his mouth to respond before realizing they never decided anything. "That's what I thought."

"We'll figure it out."

* * *

"Stiles?" He heard his dad's voice at his door. Stiles groaned and rolled over. "Can you come downstairs?" Stiles nodded and sat up as he tried to wake himself up. He shuffled down the stairs and saw his parents sitting on the couch. Kayce had clearly been up for a little while and was already dressed. Scott was sitting in a chair, with his head resting against his hand. His eyes were closed and Stiles assumed that he'd fallen asleep again.

"Scott?" Melissa patted her son's leg, and Scott jumped.

"I'm awake." He said as he widened his eyes to "prove a point."

"I'm sure you are." Melissa nodded. Stiles wanted to laugh at his brother, but something about the look on his parents' faces made him worried.

"What's going on? Is everything okay?" He asked.

"Just sit down." His father told him.

This seemed to get Scott's attention. He straightened up in his chair. "You know...I can only think of two other times you sat us down like this. The first time was when you told us that you guys were going to get married, and the second time was when you told us that you were pregnant with Kayce." He wasn't meaning to, but his hearing had focused in on their heartbeats, just in time to hear them skip. "Wait...are you..." He began speaking to his mom, suddenly thinking back over the past couple of weeks and how strange Aubrey had been acting. "Are you pregnant?!"

Melissa blushed slightly and Stiles raised his hand for a high five. "Alright, Dad!" The sheriff glared at his son and Stiles slowly lowered his hand, and quietly high-fived himself with his other hand. Only Scott noticed and he stifled a laugh, then turned back to his parents.

"You guys are still acting like this is really serious. What's going on?"

Melissa grabbed her husband's hand for support as she began. "It's just...I'm not as young as I was when I had you," She directed at Scott. "At my age, pregnancies become risky...for the mom and for the baby. Those risks are especially intensified when.."She paused and took a breath. "When multiples are involved."

"Multiples?" Stiles questioned. "Like...twins? You're having twins?"

Melissa forced a smile and nodded.

"But, you'll be fine, Mom." Scott told her.

Melissa's eyes began to water and she waved her hand in front of her. "I'm sorry." She sniffed. "I'm just emotional." Then she nodded, trying to reassure her boys. "You're right. I'll be fine. I'm getting worked up over nothing."

"So," Kayce finally spoke up after being quiet all that time. "You're going to have a baby?"

Melissa nodded. "That means you get to be the big sister. How does that sound?"

Kayce shrugged. "Okay. Can I go play now?"

Melissa chuckled. "Yeah, go ahead."

The boys didn't make a move, each of them contemplating Melissa's fears.

"Everything will be fine, boys." Their dad reassured them as he put an arm around his wife. "It's just higher risk. That's all."

They nodded silently to themselves. "How far along are you?" Stiles finally asked.

"Eleven weeks. To be honest, I tried ignoring the signs for awhile. It was Aubrey that made me finally take a test."

"Is that what you were doing the other day when she came over?" Scott asked remembering how quickly she'd stepped past him.

Melissa nodded. "Probably."

"Alright," The sheriff said, clapping his hands together and breaking the awkward silence that had settled. "Who's hungry? We have a lot to celebrate! New babies, a big lacrosse win-"

"I made an A on my spelling test!" Kayce yelled from the other room.

" _A_ 's on spelling tests...come on! _Happy_ , people!"

* * *

Allison laid in her bed staring up at the ceiling. She could still feel Stiles's lips on hers from the night before. Now she understood why Lydia would just make out with him for the fun of it.

Her phone began to ring and she quickly grabbed it, hoping it would be Stiles on the other end. Instead, it was Lydia.

"Hey, Lydia." Allison answered.

"Hey! Have you talked to Stiles today?"

Allison shook her head, then remembered she was talking on the phone and Lydia couldn't see her. "No. Not yet."

Lydia sighed. "I still can't believe you're not spilling any details."

"There are no details to spill." She lied. "Nothing happened." To be honest, as much as she loved the kiss, she felt horrible...like she had cheated on someone. Of course that was crazy, since she hadn't had a serious relationship in a long time. Although, she had made a promise to herself to stay away from guys at her new school for awhile... so maybe she just felt like she was cheating herself. But, Stiles was different than the other guys she'd known. And they had agreed not to jump into anything. It was going to be a date...a date they hadn't even planned yet. So, really...what was the harm?

"Oh..." Lydia almost sounded embarrassed.

"Oh? Oh what?"

"It's just...Aaron said he saw you and Stiles together, and suggested we all hang out...like a double date."

Allison groaned. "Ugh! Lydia! How many times do I have to tell you that I don't want to go on any double dates?!"

"It wasn't my idea though!" Lydia defended herself. "It was Aaron! I swear! I just got off the phone with him, and he said he saw you guys in Stiles's jeep and that.."

"And what?" Allison urged her to finish.

"And that you two looked rather cozy. I mean...I didn't know what to say because you told me nothing happened, but I couldn't call him a liar, so I went with it. And he's the one that suggested we all four hang out together. But it's fine... I'll just call him back and let him know that he was wrong and-"

Allison cut her off with a sigh. "Wait...Just...Let me talk to Stiles about it first. I'll let you know what he says."

"Really?!"

"Yeah," Then she added quickly, "It may have to wait until tomorrow though."

"Tomorrow? Why can't you call him today?"

"I feel more comfortable talking about it in person. Plus, I don't want to call him... I want him to call me...so unless he does..."

Allison could hear a hint of smile in Lydia's voice when she spoke again. "Oh? Why would it be a big deal over who called whom if nothing happened."

Allison shook her head, then quickly said, "I'll let you know tomorrow. Bye, Lydia." Allison hung up before her friend had the chance to respond.

The next day, Lydia showed up to school to find the place crawling with cops and crime scene technicians.

"What happened?" She asked the nearest person, who turned out to be Danny.

He shrugged. "Not sure, They just found the bus. The doors were ripped open and there was blood everywhere. I think I heard somebody say that it looked like an animal attack."

Lydia's eyes widened. Scott wouldn't have...no...that would be crazy. Right? Lydia picked up her phone and called Stiles as she raced back to the front of the school.

"Come on, Stiles...pick up... pick up."

"Hello?"

"Oh my God, Stiles-"

"What's up?"

"Are you at school yet?"

"Ha! Just kidding! You've got my voicemail. Leave a message at the beep." Beep.

Lydia growled. "You're an ass, Stilinski!" She looked down at her phone to hang up with him, and ran into someone. She was happy to see a familiar brunette. "Allison!"

"Before you say anything...No... I haven't asked him yet."

"Asked who what?" Stiles asked, walking up to them.

"Stiles! Where's Scott?" Lydia asked.

"He's coming behind me. He's moving a little slow today. He had a dream that sort of freaked him out."

"What kind of dream?" Lydia wondered aloud.

Stiles raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

Lydia sighed and pulled Stiles outside to show him the bus, "Was it anything like that?"

Stiles only stared wide-eyed. "Hey guys, what are you-" Scott came up behind them, and saw what they were looking at. Stiles turned to him, a sympathetic expression on his face. "Was there anybody in there?"

Lydia shrugged. "Not as far as I know. Why? Should there be?"

"You asked if his dream was anything like that," Stiles began. "The answer is yes. It was exactly like that. And Malia was with him."

"What are you guys talking about?" Allison asked as she approached her friends again. "You guys just ran off..." Her voice faded as she saw the bloody bus. "Oh my God! What happened?"

Stiles, Lydia, and Scott traded looks. "Um...no one knows anything yet." Lydia finally told her. Then she motioned her head to Stiles, silently telling her friend to talk to the boy about their possible double date.

Allison sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically, before saying, "Hey, Stiles? Can I talk to you for a second?"

Stiles looked back at her, then turned to face his brother who gave him a wink. Stiles shook his head. "Yeah, sure."

"So," Allison began once they were mostly by themselves. "Lydia called me yesterday because, according to her, Aaron saw us together and now wants to go on a double date."

"Um..." Stiles started, clearly being caught off-guard. "Well, I...what about you?"

Allison shrugged. "I mean...it may take some of the pressure off."

Stiles nodded. "You know...If we go and we work out, Lydia's going to take all the credit...think it was all because of her."

Allison smiled and shrugged. "We'll let her think it was...for awhile at least."

"So.." He said, then asked hesitantly. "It's a date?"

Allison nodded, then quickly added. "As long as my dad's okay with it...yeah." She smiled. They sort of stared at each other for a moment, before the bell rang. "I guess that means we need to get to class."

When Scott and Stiles walked into their Chemistry class a couple of hours later, Scott was still worried about Malia.

"What if I killed her?"

"Well, maybe you did the world a favor?" He shrugged.

"What?!"

"I said 'maybe'." He said defensively.

"But you're supposed to say 'Oh, Scott, you're my brother. Of course you didn't kill anyone."

"And I would...except you're not even sure of that...so if you don't know..how am I supposed to know?"Stiles looked back toward the door. "Scott, you didn't kill her."

"What makes you so confident all of a sudden?"

"Well, for starters...She just walked in the room."

Scott looked up and sighed in relief. "That's great! Maybe that means that there's nothing to worry about-"

"Hey look! They found something!"

Stiles and Scott exchanged looks before running to the window with the rest of the class.

* * *

"Did you hear that they found some guy in the woods?" Allison asked as she sat down next to Lydia and across from the brothers.

"Yeah," Stiles answered for everyone. "We had a perfect view from our chemistry classroom."

"Hey," Aaron said as he came up on the other side of Lydia. "Anyone sitting here?"

"Oh, uh...Nope. Not yet." Lydia was caught slightly off guard. Aaron smiled, and Danny sat down across from him and next to Scott.

"So, did Lydia ask you guys about my idea?" Aaron directed to Stiles and Allison.

The two exchanged looks and Lydia shot them a glare that said 'See? It really was his idea!'

"Um, yeah." Allison told him. "I just have to ask my dad for permission, but Stiles and I are up for it."

"Awesome! So, how long have you guys been dating?"

They exchanged glances again. "Oh uh.." Stiles struggled. "Not uh...not very long at all." Or really just at all...at least officially.

"Well, that's cool. I'm kind of excited to be honest. What were you guys thinking about doing?"

"I was thinking about bowling." Lydia cut in, to attempt to save her friends. "We used to bowl all the time." She motioned to her and Stiles. "It's been a few months since we've gone though. What do you think?"

Stiles nodded. "Sounds good to me." Aaron and Allison agreed as well.

"So," Danny spoke up for the first time since he sat down. "They're saying that that guy was attacked by a mountain lion."

"Does anybody know who he was?" Aaron asked the group.

Stiles, who was skimming an article on his phone, spoke up, "It looks like his name is Garrison Meyers. He's a bus driver."

Lydia saw the look on Scott's face and decided to change the subject. "So, about tomorrow..."

"Tomorrow?" Allison questioned.

"Yeah, bowling?"

"Oh, I thought we were talking about this weekend. I don't think tomorrow's going to work. My dad is...really strict when it comes to doing anything on a school night. Plus...there's the curfew...and my aunt is out of town until Friday and I-"

"Well, that's fine. We can do something another night." Stiles assured her.

"Or," Lydia began again. "We could all just watch a movie at your house-"

"No!" Allison yelled, then turned red out of embarrassment. "It's just...like I said...my dad..."

"Another night then." Aaron agreed with Stiles.

Lydia looked down. "Yeah, another night."

The table got quiet for a moment, until Allison looked up. "Hey, who's that girl?"

The entire table turned at the same time to look at the girl that had just walked into the cafeteria. It wasn't so noticeable though since the entire cafeteria had all turned their heads at the exact same time as well.

"That's Malia Hale." Lydia told her.

"Hale?" Allison asked, recognizing the name.

"Her sister was the one they found in the woods." Stiles told her.

Scott stared at her, and she finally turned to him a locked in his gaze. Her eyes seemed to tell him to follow, her and she walked outside.

"I'll be back." Scott said and got up, ignoring calls from his friends.


	4. Magic Bullet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this chapter and the next chapter sort of combine Magic Bullet and The Tell. This one is more like The Tell, but since it's the fourth chapter I titled it Magic Bullet.

When Scott got outside, Malia turned on him. "What the hell is your problem?!"

Scott jumped at her abrasiveness. "What?"

"Why did you get my brother arrested?"

'He...he killed your sister." Scott stammered. He'd never seen Malia so angry.

"No! He didn't! He wasn't even in town!" Scott wrinkled his forehead in confusion and before he could ask, she continued, "The only reason he's here is because I called him. _After_ I found Laura's body."

"You're the one who found her?" He asked carefully.

"Yeah." She said it with hardly any emotion and Scott wasn't sure if he was more worried that it meant she was guilty, or if it meant she was just in denial.

He nodded as he processed the new information. "Well, if he didn't kill her, then who did?"

"The alpha."

"The what now?"

Malia rolled her eyes. "The alpha. He's the leader of the pack."

"The pack? You mean... you're a werewolf too?"

She shook her head. "Not exactly."

She didn't seem like she wanted to elaborate on that statement, so Scott nodded and asked, "And how do you know it was this alpha?"

"Because Laura was the alpha. And when a beta kills the alpha, they _become_ alpha."

"Wait, what?"

Malia shook her head. "It doesn't matter. The point is, Derek didn't kill Laura."

"Well, he still turned me."

"Oh my God!" She growled. "Why are you not getting this? Derek didn't bite you! An alpha is the only one who can turn someone. So, either you were turned by Laura right before she died, or the new alpha bit you. My bet is on the latter."

Scott nodded again, then worked up enough courage to ask, "You weren't here last night... Were you?"

Malia shook her head. "No. Why?"

He sighed. "Because...I had a dream... and you were there... and it was about what happened on that bus."

She shrugged, and with a calmer voice than before, said,"Well, it wasn't me."

Scott thought a moment before asking, "Do you...do you think I could hurt someone?"

"Yes." She said without hesitation. Scott flinched at her sudden and blunt response. "But if you're asking me if you're the one who hurt the bus driver...then I don't know."

"I just... I can't remember."

Malia sighed. "Then go back to the bus. Use your senses to see, feel and smell. You'll remember if you were there." Malia turned to walk away.

"Wait, Malia-"

Malia turned back to Scott. "Go back to your friends, Scott." She said, then turned away once again.

* * *

"Hey!" Lydia caught up with Stiles as soon as the last bell rang. "I'm sticking around to watch your practice, so I was wondering if when it was over you wanted to go get ice cream?"

Stiles nodded. "Yeah, sure. I've actually really been craving a banana split."

"Mmm." she sighed. "That sounds wonderful."

Stiles chuckled. "See you after practice."

"Bye!" He walked past her and she saw Allison at the end of the hall, and walked up to her. "Hey, I'm gonna stay for lacrosse practice. Did you want to join me?"

"Uhh..." Allison mumbled as she tried to put her books in her bag. "I can't today. I've a got a doctor's appointment."

"A doctor's appointment?" Lydia questioned. "What's wrong?"

Allison's eyes widened slightly, as if she'd realize she'd said too much. "Oh, it's not for-..a big deal. Just a check up."

"Okay..." Lydia said with some confusion.

"I really need to go though. I'll see you tomorrow!"She said quickly and ran off. Lydia sighed. Allison was getting more and more mysterious. She just wished her friend would tell her what was going on. She was positive that whatever Allison's issues were, she wouldn't have a problem with it. One of her best friends was a werewolf for Christ's sake! If she could get past that, she could get past anything.

* * *

"You were amazing out there." Lydia told Stiles as he walked out of the locker room, and she linked her arm through his.

"Thanks." He chuckled. "So, Scott said that he might need us tonight."

"For what?"

Stiles shrugged. "Beats me."

When they got to the ice cream parlor, Stiles got a banana split and Lydia got a fudge brownie sundae.

"So, tell me about Allison." She said as they sat down.

"Well, she's got brown hair, brown eyes, really pretty-"

"Smart ass." Lydia rolled her eyes and Stiles grinned.

"She's also a pretty great kisser, too." He added nonchalantly.

Lydia gasped. "That whore!"

"Hey!" Stiles warned.

She smiled sweetly. "And I mean that with as much love possible. She told me nothing happened!"

"Oops. Maybe I wasn't supposed to say anything?"

Lydia sighed. "Don't worry. I won't tell her you said anything. I didn't really believe her anyway. So, what are you guys?"

"Nothing. We're nothing. It was just a kiss. We'll see what happens."

Lydia sighed. "Has she told you anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, she's always being really secretive. And she won't tell me anything, so I was just curious if she told you."

Stiles shook his head and shrugged. "Nothing that sounded like it was worth keeping secret."

As if it was rehearsed, they each reached over and got a spoonful of the other's dessert at the same time.

Lydia sighed and looked as if she was thinking about something. "Do you ever wonder what it's like to have sex?"

Stiles coughed and quickly reached for his water. "What?!" His voice rose several octaves when he finally spoke.

"I mean... I think about it all the time."

"Lydia! Why are you telling me this?" He blushed.

"I'm just making conversation."

"Well..can you make a new conversation...like one that's appropriate to talk about in public?"

Lydia sighed. "Fine." She stuck her spoon back into her ice cream and began to move it around the bowl. "It's just.. I wonder if I'll be any good."

"Oh my God." Stiles groaned as he pushed his bowl of ice cream away.

"Sorry... I'll stop."

Stiles took a deep breath. "I think... that if you're with the right person, it'll be perfect."

Lydia smiled. "That's sweet." Stiles smiled proudly. "I also think it's a load of shit."

"Hey!"

"It's true! Look, either you're good or you're not good. What if Aaron decides he wants to have sex with with me and I don't know what to do, so I just lay there and then he spreads all theses awful rumors about me being bad in bed?!"

"Lydia!" Stiles spoke softly, but forcefully. "Lower your voice! People are staring."

Lydia gasped lightly. "Do you think Allison's a virgin?"

Stiles rubbed his eyes with his hand. "I haven't thought about that."

"What if she's like...super experienced and you're...well...not."

"I don't know...Can we talk about this later?"

She sighed and when she didn't immediately say anything, Stiles pulled his ice cream back toward him to continue eating.

Lydia suddenly got a gleam in her eye, as if she had an idea, and quickly sat up and asked, "Do you want to have sex with me?"

Stiles's hand came down on the edge of his bowl, flipping it toward him-the contents of it landing in his lap.

"Shit!" he yelled as he quickly stood up, then glared at Lydia.

She put a hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter. "Sorry." They left shortly after that, and Lydia decided not to mention anything to do with sex for the rest of the day. "We should probably study for that History exam." She told him on the way back to his house.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

They were quiet for awhile and Lydia was trying to think of something to talk about besides losing her virginity-which was really all she could think about at the moment. Finally, she said, "My parents have been fighting."

"What?" Stiles sounded concerned. "I'm sorry, Lyd."

She shrugged. "It's fine. I just hate being at home right now. It's like they just won't stop."

"Are they doing therapy again, like last time?"

"It's not working. I don't think they're going to be together for much longer. It feels like the end."

"Well, you've always got our house."

Lydia nodded. "Yeah, I know. Thanks."

* * *

A few hours later, Stiles was driving her back to the school. She'd left her car there so that they could just take one; and it worked out since Scott had gotten home and asked his brother to go back to the school with him. On the way there, Scott explained to the two of them about his conversation with Malia and what she had suggested. Lydia declined in staying- she really needed to get home before her mom went to bed.

Lydia walked into her room and collapsed on her bed with a sigh. She was thinking about her conversation with Stiles earlier in the ice cream parlor. Maybe that wasn't the best time or place to bring up the topic of sex, but it's what had been plaguing her mind since she and Aaron had started talking to each other. What would happen the day things moved to that level? She knew that Aaron had a few serious girlfriends in the past. He slept with at least one of them (because she _was_ the type to kiss and tell-and she told everybody). And for all Lydia knew, he slept with the others too. Either way, he was experienced. But she liked Aaron, and it wasn't in a 'he'd be a great person to lose my virginity to' way. It was more so in a 'I want to be good for him when we finally do have sex' way. She groaned in frustration...and yeah..maybe that frustration was sexual. She needed a shower.

Lydia got to school the next day and was at her locker when she saw Stiles walk in. She waved him over and he walked up to her. "So?" She asked. "Did he do it?"

Stiles shook his head. "He remembers somebody else being there. He thinks it may be this Alpha that Malia was mentioning."

Lydia sighed in relief. "Well at least it wasn't him."

"Hey, Lydia." She heard from behind her. She color rush to her cheeks as she turned around and saw Aaron.

"Hi, Aaron!" He smiled and looked at Stiles and nodded a 'hello'. Stiles nodded back.

"I've got to get my books. I'll see you later." Stiles said and walked away.

* * *

Scott got home after work and was met by Stiles when he opened the door.

"There's something you need to know." Stiles told him solemnly.

Scott's brow wrinkled in confusion. "What is it?" He closed the front door and dropped his bag.

"Dad got a call about 20 minutes ago and had to leave. The bus driver... he died." Scott sighed and collapsed against the wall. "You gonna be okay?"

Scott shrugged. "Maybe?"

"Is there anything I can do?" Stiles asked his brother.

The beta shook his head and walked toward the stairs. "I just want to be alone right now."

* * *

Friday got there after what felt like forever. It was the end of the day and Stiles walked into the school hallway and saw Allison at her locker. As he neared her, he noticed her smiling down at card in her hand.

"Hey!" He said. She looked up, like she'd been caught with her hand in a cookie jar, and hid the card quickly.

"Hey!" She smiled.

Stiles gave her a funny look. "What was that?" He asked, looking at the card she'd tried to hide.

"Oh, this?" She asked lifting the card up. "It's uh..."She looked like she was trying to make something up, but she finally sighed, defeated. "It's a birthday card."

"It's your birthday?!" Allison nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just... I don't like to make a big deal about it, because I'm..." Then quietly she said, "I'm seventeen."

Stiles's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh!" He seemed to think about it for a moment before replying, "Well, that makes sense."

"It does?" She asked, confused.

"Yeah...I mean...you talked about moving around a lot. You're just behind because you change schools a lot, right?" Allison nodded, but it wasn't like she was agreeing with him, which seemed strange to Stiles. It was more like she was trying to process what he was saying. "Is that not the reason?" He asked her.

She took a deep breath and looked around, before closing her locker door, and grabbing his hand. She led him around the corner and opened the first door they came to.

"Uh...why are we in a supply closet?" Stiles asked.

Allison felt around for a light and flicked it on. "Because I'm about to tell you something, and I don't want anybody to else to hear. And if you don't want to date me or be friends with me after I tell you...then that's fine. I get it."

"What is it?" He asked, concerned.

She took a deep breath. "First of all, since I'm telling you this, you should know that my aunt is going to be back in town on Monday and we're having my birthday dinner that night. And you're invited."

"To your house?"

Allison nodded. "Yes. To my house. And I don't want you to give me an answer until Monday."

"But, I mean...of course I'll-"

"Not til Monday! I want you to have time to process what I'm about to tell you."

"You're really starting to scare me."

Allison bit her lip and took another deep breath. "I have a son."

Stiles's eyes widened. "What?" That was not even on a list of things he thought she was going to say at that moment.

"His name is Dominic. Nic for short. He's two. I was fourteen when I got pregnant. His dad was a few years older than me, and just like every relationship after that, things got physical pretty fast. We don't talk anymore. I took a little time off of school after I had him, so that's why I'm older." She sniffed, and Stiles suddenly realized she'd been crying (or trying not to cry) through most of that speech. "So that's it. That's my big secret." She shrugged. "I'm a mom." Stiles didn't say anything, still trying to process what she had told him. "So, you'll give me that answer on Monday, yeah?" She nodded for him and ran out of the room. Stiles let out the breath he'd been holding in and ran a hand through his hair as he slid down the wall.

The door opened and the janitor peaked his head in. "You okay, kid?"

"Five more minutes?" Stiles asked.

The janitor looked at his watched a shrugged. "Sure." He said and closed the door.

* * *

Scott knocked on Stiles's door the next morning. "Yeah." Stiles mumbled from his spot on the bed.

Scott opened the door. "Hey, you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Don't sound so convincing..look, I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to talk to Derek and Malia, dad left for work a little bit ago, and Mom took Kayce to Aubrey's house. Some sort of 'girls day'." He used air quotes. "You gonna be fine here by yourself?"

Stiles nodded, as thunder rolled outside. Scott left and Stiles sighed. He hadn't told anybody about Allison's secret. It hadn't even been 24 hours yet and it was already starting to drive him a little crazy. He heard the rain hitting the roof of the house and he was beginning to drift off to sleep. Suddenly, he heard a knocking. It took him a moment to realize the knocking was coming from his window. He looked up and saw a rain-soaked Lydia outside. He quickly jumped up from the bed and opened his windows. She hadn't climbed in through his window in years.

"Why didn't you use the door?" He semi-scolded her. It wasn't an easy feat getting to his second story window. It was actually somewhat dangerous-especially in the rain. It made the trellis more slippery. He finally got a good look at her and saw she was visibly upset. "Lydia?"

"He left." She sobbed. "He's gone." She hugged him and buried her face into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her.

* * *

It had been about an hour since he'd let her inside. He'd lent her some of his dry clothes, and she'd climbed into bed next to him. They had turned on a movie and were quietly watching it when he blurted, "I have to tell you something." Lydia turned to look him, raising an eyebrow. "It's nothing bad...well...not really anyway...and I don't know if I'm allowed to say something or not, but I need to tell somebody and you're my best friend and I tell you everything." Lydia continued staring, waiting for him to tell her. "I found out Allison's secret."

Lydia sat up, intrigued. "Oh my God! What is it?"

He took a deep breath. "She has a kid."

"What?!" Stiles nodded. "Wow.. I mean...I guess that answers the question of whether or not she's a virgin."

"Lydia! Come on! I mean... what do I do? Dating her is like dating her kid too. I remember what it was like when my parents were dating." Lydia knew he was referring to his dad and Melissa. "They had to be so careful and I got attached to Mom so fast. I don't know what Dad would have done if they didn't work out. I probably would have asked to move in with Scott." He and Lydia chuckled. "I just don't know if I want that kind of responsibility."

"Well, it's not _your_ job to think about her kid. It's _her_ job. She should set the boundaries."

He nodded. "I still like her. She invited me to her birthday dinner on Monday. She told me to wait until Monday to give her an answer to whether or not I'll be going." Stiles groaned. "She also casually mentioned that Dominic's dad wasn't the only guy she'd slept with. That's her son's name...Dominic."

"Dominic...that's cute. Also..maybe I wasn't too far off when I called her a whore." Stiles gave her a warning look. She rolled her eyes. "I'm obviously kidding." She took a deep breath before asking. "Where _is_ his dad?"

"Not in the picture."

"Just like mine." Stiles smiled sadly at her and put an arm around her as she snuggled up against him.

"You'll be okay." He told her. "You're so strong." Lydia bit her lip as she tried to stop the tears.

"I think I hate him."

"Don't hate him."

"Do you hate your mom?" Then clarified, "Your dad's first wife."

Stiles hesitated a moment. "No."

"Liar."

"Well, I don't _want_ to hate her. That's got to count for something...right? Plus...I mean... she's dead. There's no one to hate anymore."

Lydia shrugged, her mind falling back to their conversation a few days before. They were quiet again and Stiles had begun watching the movie once more.

"Stiles?" She asked timidly.

"Hmm?"

"Will you have sex with me?"

Lydia felt his body stiffen for a moment and then he chuckled lightly. "What, right now?"

"Why not?" she asked as she sat up.

He looked at her, color draining from his face and quickly sat up too, "Wait, are you serious?"

"Of course!" Stiles didn't know what to say, so Lydia continued. "Look...I've been freaking out about my first time being with this guy that's experienced and wondering if I'll be good enough. And what about Allison?" She gave him a look and he sighed. "I mean.. I feel like we should just get our first times out of the way, and why not with each other? What's the point in waiting for the 'right person' to come along? Marriage isn't forever, love doesn't last forever. You know what's forever? Best friends! Best friends forever. Why can't your best friend be the right person? I want to feel comfortable and there's no one that I feel more comfortable with than you. And it's great, because neither of us knows what we're doing. We can figure it out together, just like we did with kissing. Remember how we were each other's first kiss? So let's do it! No one's home, it's perfect!"

Stiles didn't really need to be convinced much further. "Okay."

"Really?"

"Yeah...But look...if at any point either of us changes our mind, we stop. Got it?"

"Absolutely."

He nodded, then two of them just stared at each other. "How do you want to start this?" Stiles asked.

Lydia bit her lip. "Do you want to make out?" Stiles smiled, and brushed a piece of hair out of her face. Lydia suddenly felt her heart begin to race with nervousness and excitement, at the thought of what was about to happen. She closed her eyes and met his lips with hers. Her head began to spin for a moment, before she realized he had just flipped her over, so that her back was now on the bed and he hovered over her. She put a hand on his chest and her eyes popped open as she pushed lightly.

He opened his eyes quickly. "Are you okay? Do you want to stop?"

"No!" She told him. "I just... do you have any condoms?" He thought for a bit.

"Actually..." He reached up and open the drawer of his side table, and pulled out a roll. "I guess that sex talk last week wasn't a _complete_ waste of time." Lydia began to chuckle and Stiles laughed along with her. When he stopped laughing, he searched her face for a moment. "We're really going to do this?" He asked once more.

Lydia smiled, her heart fluttered lightly. "I wouldn't want it to be anybody else."


	5. The Tell

Allison stood nervously at her locker. She was waiting for Stiles to come in and trying not to get her hopes up that things would turn out okay. She didn't think that Stiles seemed like all of the other boys she'd dated, but people could surprise you.

"Hey." She heard from behind her, her heartbeat quickening at his voice. "So, about tonight..." he began. He wasn't coming. Her heart was suddenly in her throat and she felt like crying. "What time should I be there...and is it like a casual thing?"

She spun around to face him, her eyes wide. He had a smile on his face and now she just wanted to cry even more (but for a different reason).

"You're coming?" Her eyes lit up as she asked him.

He nodded. "That is...if you still want me to?"

Allison couldn't stop herself from throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him.

Lydia watched the exchange from down the hall. She was happy for them. Truly, she was. But then...why did she feel like she'd just been kicked in the gut?

"Good morning." She heard in her ear.

"Hey." She said, as she turned and smiled at Aaron.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well...you're crying."

Lydia reached up and wiped her face. "Oh." She tried to laugh. "Allergies."

"Oh, okay." Aaron didn't question her.

Stiles would have.

She groaned inwardly. No. She was not going to be _that_ girl. The one that falls for her best friend. And she wasn't going to be the one who compared every guy to him either.

"So," She began, brightly. "I was thinking we should do something tonight."

"Yeah," Aaron agreed. "Sounds great. We'll talk about it later."

"So," Allison was telling Stiles. "I was thinking that maybe you could just take me home after school."

Stiles nodded. "Sounds good to me." He looked off to the side, and could have sworn he'd seen a sickly-looking Derek Hale. Stiles quickly did a double take, but the wolf was gone.

"What?" Allison asked and looked in the direction Stiles was looking.

"Nothing...I thought I saw..."He sighed and shook his head. "Never mind."

Allison looked confused. "Okay..."

* * *

The school day came to a close and Allison was following Stiles out to his jeep, when he received a text from Scott.

_May need your help._

_With what?_ He texted back.

_Call you later._

Stiles sighed and climbed into his jeep.

"So, you may need to remind me of how to get to your house." He told her as he turned out onto the main road.

"Who was texting you?" She asked.

"Scott. He said he was going to call me later."

Allison nodded. "Take a right." She told him, and Stiles did as he was asked. When they finally got to Allison's house, neither of them moved to get out of the jeep. They both knew that things would change the moment they did. "Are you ready?" She asked him.

"Are you?"

A knock at the window made them both jump.

Allison sighed. "That's my Aunt Kate."

"Guess that means it's time to go." Stiles said.

Allison nodded and they both got out.

"Kate, this is Stiles. Stiles, Kate."

"Hi," Stiles smiled and extended his hand to the woman.

"It's great to meet you, Stiles. I've heard a lot about you. Seems you're quite the star athlete."

Stiles blushed. "I wouldn't say I was a _star_."

"He's just being modest." Allison told her aunt.

"Well, we're glad you decided to join us for dinner." Kate smiled. Kate began to walk toward the door and Allison linked her arm through Stiles's as she led him inside.

When he walked in, it smelled like he'd just stepped into a bakery.

"Smells like dad's making the cake." Allison whispered.

"Allison? Is that you?" Her dad called from the kitchen.

"Me and Stiles!" She yelled back.

"Vroom! Rawr!" He heard a small child's voice.

Allison rolled her eyes and continued to lead Stiles toward the kitchen. "Sounds like he's playing monster trucks. It's his new thing."

"Monster trucks are cool." Stiles shrugged. "I like his style."

Allison laughed and bit her lip.

"Stiles!" Chris Argent seemed genuinely happy to see the boy.

"Chris!" Stiles tried to match his enthusiasm.

"Hey, you remembered this time." He said, referring to using his first name. Allison unlinked her arm, so that Stiles could extend his hand to her father. "How are you at a grill?" He asked as he shook Stiles's hand.

"Uhh.. I've tried it once or twice, but that's normally my dad's domain. He's pretty possessive when it comes to his grill." He laughed.

"Well, you're going to help me tonight."

"Dad!"

"It's fine," Stiles told Allison. "It'll be nice to actually get to try it out without my dad standing over my shoulder." Chris laughed and opened the refrigerator and took out a plate of hamburgers and hot dogs.

"Follow me." He told Stiles and led him to the grill outside. Chris turned back around and saw that Allison hadn't followed them. "Look, before she comes out here," He began quietly. "I just want to say thank you."

"For what?"

"For being here tonight. I know it means a lot to Allison. She doesn't make friends easily. And I know she likes you, but if you guys just stay friends...I know she'll be fine with that too."

"Well, you have a pretty great daughter. Anybody who wouldn't want to be her friend is just stupid."

Argent laughed. "Go ahead and turn it on." He instructed as he pointed to the grill.

* * *

About half an hour later, Stiles heard the sliding door open, and turned to see Allison holding a little boy in her arms.

"He wanted to see what Papa was doing, and Mommy wanted to make sure Papa wasn't intimidating her guest."

"We're actually having fun. I haven't burned anything yet!" Stiles said proudly.

"You know, Stiles," Argent told him slowly. "If you wanted to take a break. I wouldn't be offended."

"Uhh.." He looked from Argent to Allison. He actually didn't mind continuing to grill, but something told him it was better to go with Allison. "Sure." He told Argent and handing the spatula over.

"Stiles, this is Dominic." Allison introduced him to the little boy. "Nic, this is Mommy's friend, Stiles."

"Hi." He said in a quiet voice.

"He's pretending to be shy." Allison told Stiles.

"I used to do that too." He said, in a voice as if he were speaking to Dominic. "Hi Dominic. It's very nice to meet you. I heard you like to play monster trucks."

Dominic's eyes lit up and he nodded enthusiastically. "Do you wanna play?"

To be honest...he really did. And he almost said 'Yes!' before realizing he should probably get Allison's permission first. "Is it okay if we play monster trucks?" Stiles asked, silently pleading for her to tell him it was fine.

Allison rolled her eyes and put Dominic down. "Yeah..go ahead."

Dominic quickly grabbed Stiles's hand and led him back inside. Allison sighed.

Argent turned his daughter and pointed with the spatula. "I like him."

"Yeah...I do too."

"Let's try to keep him around."

* * *

"Scott, I can't talk right now. We're about to eat." Stiles whispered into his phone.

"Derek's dying."

"...okay? And I should care because?"

"If I want to know anything about what's happening to me. I need him around."

"What about Malia? She can help you. Why do you need him?"

"He saved me from the hunters. I need to return the favor."

"Okay, then do it yourself. Why involve me?"

"Because he was shot by a hunter. He thinks it may be Allison's aunt."

Stiles sighed. "Of course."

"Please?"

"I'll see what I can do. But I'm not making any promises, and I'm not going to rush through eating this fabulous meal that I helped prepare." Stiles hung up.

Scott gave the phone a confused look as he pulled it away.

"He's going to do what he can." Scott told Derek as he turned to him.

"Yeah?" Derek asked, his breathing labored. "On a scale of one to ten... How successful do you think he'll be?" Scott opened his mouth to answer, but couldn't decide what he wanted to say. "If it's not an immediate ten, it's time to think about a plan B."

"Which is?"

Derek picked up a saw. "You're going to cut my arm off."

* * *

Lydia added the final touch to her makeup before her mother knocked on her door. "There's a young man downstairs."

"His name's Aaron." Lydia told her mother with a smile. "We're going on a date."

Her mom nodded slowly. "A date, huh?" The she sighed. "Honey, do we need to have a talk?"

Lydia's eyes widened. "No, mom...we're good."

"Just remember... if he tries to make you do something you aren't ready to do-"

"Mom!"

"Just say no. And you can call me."

"Mom," She tried again. "I know... I'm fine."

Natalie nodded, then began again. "And if it is something you want to do just make sure you're protected."

"Mom! I know!" She sighed and mumbled. "Believe me...I know."

* * *

It was nearly two hours after Scott had hung up with his brother when Stiles ran into the clinic, surprised by the sight in front him.

"What the hell is happening in here?!" His voiced raised an octave as he saw his brother with the saw in his hand.

"Where's the bullet?" Derek asked, on the verge of passing out.

Stiles turned his head to the door. "Allison?"

"It's here." She said coming out from behind the door, taking the bullet out of her purse.

"What is she doing here?" Derek asked angrily as Scott took the bullet from her.

"She's here to help!" Stiles explained.

"I dated a werewolf once, and I don't agree with hunting."

"She could just be saying that." Derek said as he tried to open the bullet.

"Believe me. She's not." Stiles told him, trying to get him to back off.

Scott sighed feeling betrayed. "I can't believe you just told her about me."

Allison's eyes widened and Stiles sighed. "I didn't."

"No...but _you_ just did." Allison told him.

Derek was lighting the wolfsbane on fire, but Stiles could still see he was mad. "But, in my defense," He began. "She walked in on me looking for the bullet-"

"He's not very good at snooping." Allison added.

"Then she started asking me all these questions, and she pretty much ended up guessing it all on her own."

Derek smashed the ashes of the wolfsbane into the wound, then yelled in pain. The wound suddenly disappeared and he sat up.

"I don't trust you." He told Allison bluntly.

"Well, the feeling's mutual, but then again. I did just help save your life...and your limb."

"How do I know you're not just going to go back to your father and tell him everything?"

"My father and I have an understanding. While I don't agree with him hunting, he's promised to only go after the bad guys... Like this alpha. He's killing people and it needs to stop."

"I agree. I just don't see how just dating a werewolf makes you an ally. I mean, it obviously didn't work out between you two."

"Derek-" Stiles tried, but Allison cut him off.

"No, he wants to know, so I'll tell him." She took a deep breath. "You're right. It didn't work out. He was a terrible boyfriend, who had a terrible temper, and it was a really bad break up. Five minutes alone with this guy would put a bad taste for werewolves in anyone's mouth. But you see, this werewolf, is also the father of my son." Scott's eyes widened and his mouth dropped as he looked to Stiles. Oh yeah...He'd forgotten to tell Scott about Nic. "Which means," Allison continued. "That there's a 50% chance that's he's also going to be a werewolf, and I don't want my kid growing up and living in fear that he's going to be killed by his own family. And the way I see it...you can't be okay with it sometimes and not okay with it others. So...unless you're a serial killer...you have nothing to worry about."

* * *

Lydia and Aaron had gone to get dinner and afterward they'd gone to Beacon Pointe. It was a known make-out spot, and in Aaron's defense, he'd asked Lydia if she wanted to go there and she told him yes-knowing full-well what that meant.

As they kissed, Aaron had his hand on Lydia's leg. It slowly moved further and further up under her dress, and as it reached her thigh, where his finger tips were touching her panties, she reflexively grabbed his arm to stop him. He pulled away from her and searched her face- Her very confused face.

"I'm sorry." She told him. "I...I don't know why I did that."

"It's okay." He told her and moved his hand away. "If you're not comfortable-"

"No!" She told him, "I am." She took a deep breath. "If you do it again, I won't stop you this time."

He chuckled. "Okay." He began to kiss her again, this time, putting his hand on her waist. His hand slowly roamed her back, eventually finding the zipper at the top of her dress, and he pulled. He'd only gotten the zipper halfway down when Lydia put her hand on his chest and pushed him away.

He let out a laugh as he looked down. "Seriously, Lydia. If you don't want to do this, we don't have to. Look, if you're a virgin, it's okay."

"I'm not!" She yelled, mainly because she was frustrated with herself. She took a deep breath. "I don't know what's wrong with me." They sat in silence for a moment before Lydia lifted her head. "I have an idea." she told him, then climbed across the seats and into his lap. "There." She said as she straddled him. Maybe if she were in control it would be easier. She began to kiss him again as she held onto the collar of his shirt. She began to work her fingers over the buttons down his shirt as he held onto her waist. Suddenly, it was like her fingers had frozen up. She was about four buttons in, but she couldn't get the next one undone. She felt him stop kissing her and she sat up, getting more and more frustrated. Aaron's hands reached up and grabbed hers as a sobbed escaped her chest. It was then that she realized she was crying- like full-on tears streaming down her face crying.

"Lydia?" He asked soothingly.

"I'm sorry." She told him and reached over to grab her clutch, then opened his door and got out.

"Lydia! Come back! I'll take you home!" He yelled after her, but she'd broken into a sprint was now running through the woods. She ran for a little bit, not sure where she was going, until she finally just collapsed against a tree.

She didn't know why she was crying. Maybe there were several reasons...the frustration, the embarrassment, the overwhelming feeling that she was with the wrong person?

She pulled her phone out of her purse and called Stiles.

He answered on the second ring.

"Hey, Lyd. What's up?" She sniffled, and tried to speak. But at the same time, she didn't trust her voice. "Are you okay?" He asked her. Concern definitely evident in his voice.

"Where are you?" She asked him.

"I just left Allison's house."

"Oh, right." She'd forgotten about his dinner with her family. "How'd it go?"

"The dinner went great. Afterwards, things got a little weird."

"Weird how?" She asked.

"Lydia? Where are you?" That was just like him. Always concerned for her safety.

She looked around. "I...I don't know...The woods...somewhere."

"The woo-Lydia! You do remember there's an alpha werewolf running around out there, right?"

"Honestly, I'd sort of forgotten that." She could just imagine Stiles rolling his eyes.

"I'm coming to get you. Don't hang up."

"Okay."

He sighed. "Derek nearly died."

"Really?"

"Yeah. That's what I meant by it getting weird." He took a deep breath. "Where were you before you were in the woods?"

She sighed. "Beacon Pointe?"

"Oh." He said with some surprise.

"Yeah..I...I don't know what happened."

"Did he try to force you to-"

"No! That's just it! He kept giving me an out, but I kept saying I wanted to. But then I kept pushing him away, and then I started crying and then I just ran." She sighed. "He probably hates me."

"I don't think he'll hate you."

"So Derek almost died?" She changed the subject.

"Yeah," He went with it. "Some sort wolfsbane-filled bullet. Shot by my girlfriend's aunt."

Lydia felt a pang in her chest. "Girlfriend?"

"Uh...yeah.." She could hear the smile in his voice. "After the whole 'saving Derek' adventure, we decided to make it official."

"That's great." She tried to sound happy for him. She really hoped he didn't hear her choke on that sob. "Wait." She said, as she tried to calm herself down again. "What do you mean adventure? Allison was with you?"

"Yeah... so... Scott told me he needed to find out what type of bullet Derek was shot with, so I'm in Kate's room...Kate's her aunt by the way...anyway, I'm in her room looking for this bullet, and Allison walks in. And at that point I'd found this gun under Kate's bed and Allison looks me and she's like 'what are you doing?' and I was like...uhh...and I didn't say anything, because I couldn't think of anything to say...And then she's like 'where did you find that?' and I pointed under the bed. So then she like starts examining the gun and then she finds this box of bullets and she realizes that one of them is missing. And she's like, 'Wait, do you know what happened to the other bullet?' and I was like 'Maybe?' And she was like 'Did it hit a werewolf?' and I was like "whaaaaa' and then she was like 'cut the crap. Did she shoot a wolf?' And I was like.. 'well...it's a definite possibility.' And she told me to take her to him, so I did. And on the way over she tells me that Dominic's father is a werewolf, so she's super protective of wolves."

"Wow.."

"Yeah...okay, so I'm at Beacon Pointe... you know...I feel really weird being here with nobody else." Lydia rolled her eyes. "So, if I'm sitting in my car, which side did you run to. The right or the left?"

"Left. I went out the driver's door."

"Okay. Hold on." It sounded like the line went dead for a moment, maybe he'd gotten another call. "Are you still there?" He asked when he came back.

"Yeah. I'm here."

"Alright, let me know when you can hear me."

"So, how was her kid?"

"He's adorable. He looks just like Allison. We played monster trucks. And I grilled with her dad." Lydia opened her mouth." And before you ask. No I didn't burn anything."

"Wow! I'm impressed."

"Right?! I was very proud of myself."

"I just heard you!"

"Alright, I'm going to keep walking... tell me when my voice goes away again."

She sighed. "It's already gone." Silence. "Stiles!" No response. "Stiles!" Beep beep beep.

"Found you." She heard from behind her. She nearly jumped out of her skin and she turned around and saw Stiles standing there. She threw her arms around him.

"I've never been so happy to see you!" She told him.

"Come on." He laughed. "Let's get you home." She sighed and leaned against him as they walked out of the woods. "Oh, just so you know...Aaron's not mad."

She scoffed. "How do you know?"

"I saw him when I parked. That's why I put you on mute. So I could talk to him. He was actually worried and wanted to stay until you came back. I told him you'd see him at school tomorrow."

Lydia sighed. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. What are best friends for?"

Definitely not for falling in love with...that's for sure.


	6. Heart Monitor

Lydia heard her alarm clock go off, but she didn't want to get up. If she had to face Aaron today, she didn't know what she would say. Probably nothing, then just die from embarrassment. She contemplated how easy it would be to avoid him, then just debated faking sick and not going to school altogether.

And that's exactly what she did. She turned her alarm off and went back to sleep. At 8:30, she woke up to her phone ringing. She sleepily reached over and picked it up to see who it was. Stiles.

"Hello?" She answered, her voice scratchy.

"Oh my God! You're alive!" He exclaimed.

"Yes...for now."

"Why aren't you at school?"

"Well, gee...I don't know." She said sarcastically, as she rolled over. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I threw myself at a guy, then ran away from him."

She heard Stiles laugh. "Lydia, I told you...he's okay with it. Just come to school."

"I can't. I'm sick." She faked a cough. "Bye. Stiles."

"Wai-" He tried, but she was already hanging up. She huffed as she dropped her phone onto the bed, then covered her head with the blanket.

* * *

She went to school on Wednesday, and Aaron immediately found her. _So much for the 'avoiding him' plan._ She thought.

"Lydia!" He said as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the side, "You ignored all of my calls and texts yesterday, last night, _and_ Monday night. Look, I never wanted you to feel pressured to do anything. I wasn't expecting anything from you."

"I know." She said softly. "I just...I wanted to be with you-I _do_ want to be with you." She quickly corrected herself. "I just...I don't know what happened the other night. I guess I got flustered and then I got embarrassed and I-"

"Hey," he said soothingly as he tilted her chin. "It's fine. We'll wait. I have no problem with waiting." She nodded, and he sweetly kissed her lips. "See you after school." He told her, and then walked away.

"What'd I tell you?" She heard from behind her. She turned to see Stiles standing there, a goofy grin on his face.

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes.

"I told you! He really likes you, Lydia! The only one who cared was you."

"Yeah..."

"What?" He asked her.

She looked up confused. "What do you mean, what?"

"I don't know...you just... you looked like you were thinking about something..."

"Nope." She shook her head, as she tried to hide the fact that she'd been caught. Because yes...she was thinking about something. She was thinking about how Stiles was acting like he's always acted. Like having sex didn't change anything between them. Which is what she had wanted, right? Maybe she'd fallen into that cliché that girls can't just have sex without emotions. As it stood, she was the _only_ person who knew what it was like to have sex with Stiles Stilinski. And he was the only one who knew what it was like to have sex with her. No one else could say that. Maybe that meant more to Lydia than it did to him. She would always remember her first time. She would look back years from now and remember how she lost her virginity to her best friend. And she hoped he would do the same. He would never have another first time (or second or third-because yeah..they were by themselves for hours). So why didn't that mean anything to him? Why was she still _just_ his best friend?

"Hey," He said a concerned look on his face. "Why are you crying?" He asked as he lifted his hand to wipe a tear away from her cheek.

She pulled away from him slightly. "I'm fine." She told him and walked away.

* * *

It was Thursday when Lydia saw Allison and Stiles coming out of the supply closet a little disheveled. Allison later giddily confirmed that she and Stiles had taken their relationship to the next level the night before.

Lydia smiled and acted like she was happy for them as her heart broke. She wasn't sure what was worse-that it had happened, or that Stiles didn't tell her first. If they were still best friends then she should be the first person he told. So maybe things had changed after all...and not necessarily for the better. As soon as school was over she'd gone directly to her car and broke down as soon as she was inside.

She heard a knock at her window and turned to see Aaron standing there. She wiped her eyes and rolled down her window.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"I'm fine. I'm just...It's been a long day."

"Do you want some company?" He asked her.

She smiled. "Thanks, but not right now."

He nodded. "Fair enough. See you tomorrow."

* * *

On Friday, Lydia woke up feeling refreshed. Maybe all that had to happen was for Stiles to move on for her to move on. When she finally saw Aaron at school (several hours into her day), she'd pulled him into a long kiss.

"What was that for?" He asked her as he pulled away.

"For being there through the crazy this week." They smiled at each other. "Do you want to do something tonight?"

"Only, if you want to." He said slowly.

"Absolutely." She told him.

"Hey, Lydia." Stiles bounced up to her with excitement. "I'm gonna go throw lacrosse balls at Scott. Wanna come?"

Lydia crinkled her forehead. "Uhh...no thanks?" He shrugged and walked away.

"What was that about?" Aaron asked.

"No idea." She said as she shook her head.

* * *

"Alright," Stiles started as he got out of the jeep. "What are we doing here?" He asked his brother. He stopped as he noticed the older wolf standing there. "And by _we_ I mean _all_ of us."

"I could ask the same thing." Derek said as he glared at Allison who had just climbed out of the jeep as well.

Stiles glared at him for a moment before noticing the person in the backseat of Derek's car. "Holy shit! Is that your boss?"

"He's not the alpha." Scott quickly clarified.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Derek piped.

"In answer to your question." Scott began again, ignoring his comment. "We're going to draw the alpha out."

Twenty minutes later Scott, Allison, and Stiles were running back into the school.

"We're going to draw the alpha out." Stiles mimicked his brother as the three of them held the door closed. "Yeah...great plan, Scotty."


	7. Night School

Stiles, Scott, and Allison ran into an empty classroom.

"What do we do?!" Scott panicked.

"Well, I, for one, think we should get back to the jeep and get the hell out of here!" Stiles yelled.

Something suddenly crashed through the window sending glass scattering across the floor. The three teens ducked down to protect themselves.

Allison was the first to look up. "I don't think that's going to be possible." She told them.

"Why not?" Scott asked.

Stiles noticed what Allison was talking about. "Because that's the jeep battery." He said, and pointed to the black box in the middle of the floor.

"Shit." Scott muttered under his breath.

* * *

Lydia was breathing heavily as Aaron rolled onto his back.

Her mom had gone out with some friends leaving the house empty, which she was extremely grateful for.

"Wow." He breathed.

"Yeah...wow." She chuckled lightly and turned her head toward him. "See? When I'm not being a complete nutcase, I can be fun."

He smiled at her and turned his head to face her. "I thought you were fun before. I didn't need you to prove anything."

She blushed and turned away. There was a buzzing noise and it took Lydia a moment to process it. "Is that my phone?" She finally asked. Aaron looked over and grabbed her phone then handed it to her as it stopped.

"Looks like you missed a call from Stiles."

She sat up slightly and shrugged as she took the phone. "He'll call back if it's important." She smirked at Aaron then leaned over to kiss him. He lifted his hand and put it on her neck to pull her closer. She heard her phone buzz and saw it light up a few moments later. She pulled away and looked down. She now had a new voicemail.

"He left a message." She mumbled and hit play on the voicemail. She rolled her eyes when all she heard was the sound of fabric on the microphone of the phone. "It was a butt dial." She told Aaron then turned the phone on speaker so he could hear.

There was a rustling, and Lydia was about to delete the message when they heard a female scream. Lydia and Aaron exchanged looks.

"Hurry!" They heard. It sounded like Scott. There was a loud scraping noise, like something heavy being dragged across a hard floor.

"Oh my God!" It was Allison. "He's dead! The janitor's dead!"

"Ali, calm down!" It was Stiles. "It's trapped in the locker room."

There was a banging and then they heard Scott say, "It's in the ceiling."

"Run!" Stiles yelled before the message ended.

"Oh my God!" Lydia said frantically as she looked at Aaron.

"Maybe we should call the police." He suggested.

"We don't even know where they are, or if they were being serious."

"Well, try to call him back."

Lydia called Stiles. It went straight to voicemail. "No answer."

"They were talking about a janitor and locker room. Maybe they're at the school. I'll take you there." He offered and Lydia nodded.

* * *

Scott, Stiles, and Allison rounded a corner and nearly ran into somebody. There were five sudden screams.

"Lydia!" Stiles gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"I got a weird voicemail from you and I was worried. Aaron drove me." She pointed to the boy next to her and he smiled and waved.

"Wait, how'd you get in?" Scott asked.

"There was an open door." Lydia told him with some confusion.

"We haven't been able to find an open door. All of our exits have been blocked." Allison told her.

"It let you in on purpose." Stiles continued. "Now it's trapped you guys in here too."

"What is this _it_ that you're talking about?" Aaron asked.

Suddenly, there was a noise above them and the ceiling gave way.

"It found us!" Scott yelled. "We need to get out of here."

* * *

"You set the school on fire?!" The sheriff yelled at his sons. Ambulances, police cars, and firetrucks surrounded them outside of the school.

"Not on purpose." Scott mumbled. The two boys had been separated from the rest of the group so that their dad could get a clear answer out of them.

"In fairness," Stiles began. "I actually was not involved in that part at all." Scott shot him a look, and Stiles just shrugged.

The Sheriff rubbed his eyes. "Do you mind explaining it all to me again?"

"Well, we were being chased." Stiles explained. "We thought we'd lost them when we got to the school, but we hadn't and we hoped that maybe somebody was still inside."

Scott continued. "And then the janitor was dead and Lydia and Aaron showed up and we thought maybe we could get out of the school if we went up to the roof, so I went back to find the janitor to get his keys."

Stile interrupted. "But we didn't want him to go without any sort of weapon, so Lydia made a Molotov cocktail."

"A Moltov-"

"It's a firebomb." Stiles elaborated.

"I know what it is." Stilinski clarified. "The fact that Lydia Martin knows how to make one..."

"Anyway," Scott picked up where Stiles had left off. "I went to find the janitor and I heard something behind me and got scared and threw it, and it exploded onto the bleachers." In reality, he was about to throw the beaker, when the alpha tackled him to the ground and it flew out of his hand and into the bleachers.

Stilinski sighed. "Your mother hears nothing about this. Understand?" The boys nodded. "Now, go home."

"What about Allison?" Stiles asked. "I was her ride."

"See if Lydia can take her home. If not, I'll get one of my deputies-"

"I'll talk to Lydia and Aaron." He said quickly, and he and Scott went back to where the other three were standing.

"How bad was it?" Allison asked as the two boys approached them.

"Could have been worse." Scott told her.

"We have to go straight home." Stiles said, then turned to Aaron. "Do you think you could take Allison?"

Aaron nodded. "Yeah. We can take her."

"Bye." Allison said, then kissed Stiles, making everybody turn their heads away from them. Suddenly, they heard the Sheriff's voice.

"Stiles! Scott! In the jeep! Now!"

* * *

Aaron dropped off Allison and it was just him and Lydia in the car.

"So, "He began. "Tonight was...adventurous."

Lydia chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it was."

"Is it always like that with you guys?"

She shrugged. "Not _all_ the time."

He nodded and smiled. "Look...I'm not an idiot. This is Beacon Hills. Crazy stuff happens here all the time. You guys have some kind of connection to the craziness, though. Don't you?" Lydia looked down. "Its fine if you do. You don't have to tell me what it is either, but if you do...I'm not going to judge anybody."

She nodded. "I'll take that into consideration." They were now in front of Lydia's house. She leaned over and kissed him goodbye. "I'll see you later."

* * *

The ride back home was surprisingly quiet. When they got home and to the front door, Stiles stopped his brother. "Do you think Dad told her?"

"No." Scott said. "He's the one who told us _not_ to tell. He wouldn't...would he?"

Stiles gave him a look of insecurity. "What if he told us not to tell, just so we would think that she didn't know, but then she blows up at us when we walk in?" The boys stared at each other. "Maybe, you can see if you can hear her heartbeat. If she's mad, maybe it'll be faster.

Scott listened for a moment, hearing three heartbeats. She must have company over. "I think we're fine." He told Stiles. They opened the door and walked in.

"Boys? Was that you?" She called.

"Yeah, Mom." Stiles called back.

"Come into the kitchen! I'm almost done with dinner."

Scott walked toward the kitchen, fully expecting to see two other people there, but it was just his mother. Scott focused his hearing once more, and realized all three heartbeats were coming from Melissa.

She walked over to him and gave them both hugs and kisses, then stopped and gave them a strange look.

"You smell like smoke. Have you been smoking?"

"What? No! We...went to a bonfire." Scott quickly lied.

"Oh. Okay." Melissa easily believed him and she turned back around.

Scott couldn't hide his smile. Not because he'd just lied to his mother and gotten away with it, but because he realized he was hearing his siblings' heartbeats for the first time. And he officially kind of loved that sound.


	8. Lunatic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***Trigger Warning: I'm putting a small trigger warning on this chapter due to non-consensual kissing which leads to discussion of rape.

On Monday, Scott and Stiles got to school and they could already hear the buzzing about the fire in the gym.

"It's so weird." Allison said as she and Lydia walked up to the boys. "Everybody's talking about it, but nobody knows it was us."

"Thank you protection of minors." Lydia sighed. "Oh..guys... I should probably tell you...Aaron kind of knows...things."

"Things?" Stiles asked. "What kind of things?"

"Well... he knows that the supernatural exists and he's pretty sure we're apart of it."

"Well what did you say?" Allison asked her.

She shrugged. "I didn't know what to say. I neither confirmed nor denied." Allison and Stiles both pinched the bridge of their nose. "Guys, I'm a terrible liar. You know this."

Scott suddenly slammed his locker door shut and walked away. Stiles and Allison looked up and the three of them watched him walk away.

"Is he okay?" Allison asked.

"Tonight's a full moon." Stiles sighed. "He's been like this all morning. I really hate full-moon Scott. He's kind of an ass."

* * *

When they walked into practice at the end of the day, Stiles saw Aaron for the first time since Friday.

"Hey, Aaron..." He began slowly. "Uh..how are you?"

Aaron wrinkled his forehead in confusion. "Okay?" He said slowly.

Stiles gave a quick a nod. "Good...I was just...making sure...you know...after Friday...that was...scary."

Aaron nodded slowly. "It's fine, Stiles. Not a big deal." He walked away and Stiles released a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

"Okay, listen up." Coach announced and Stiles looked up as he leaned against the closest locker. "Due to an outbreak of pink eye- Thank you, Greenberg- the following players have made first line on a probationary basis. Taylor, Rodriguez, and Lahey." Stiles looked over at Lahey...Isaac was his first name. The two of them never really talked. Isaac was more of the quiet type. "Also, your captain, Aaron, has decided to step down from his leadership role." Stiles's head whipped to Aaron, who just shrugged at him. "So, effective immediately, we're switching to co-captains. McCall and Stilinski."

Stiles's jerked his head back toward Coach. "What?!" He didn't mean to say it as loudly as it came out.

"Do you have a problem with that, Stilinski?" Coach asked.

"No! I just...that's kind of unexpected."

"I think the two of you work well together. It's like you have some kind of bond or something."

"Well, maybe it has to do with the fact that we're brothers." Stiles shrugged.

"Brothers? You have different last names."

"Well, technically we're step-brothers."

"Since when?!" Coach was acting as if he never knew this.

"Um.." Stiles looked around to see if any of the other guys were confused.

Danny spoke up, "Their parents got married like 8 years ago. It was the Sheriff's wedding. Half of us were there."

"Eight years?" He questioned, and thought about it. "Huh..that must have been while I was in rehab." He muttered. "Anyway, Stilinski #1 and Stilinski #2-"

"It's still McCall, Coach." Scott spoke up, a bite to his tone.

"Fine. Stilinski and McCall, congratulations and good luck."

Players came up to congratulate Stiles, while he was trying to get to Aaron. By the time he was finished saying his thank yous, Aaron was already out of the locker room. When he got out of the room, Allison and Lydia were walking up to him. Suddenly, he just couldn't hold the news in.

"Coach made me and Scott co-captains!"

"What?!" Allison squealed. "That's great!" She threw her arms around him and gave him a congratulatory kiss.

"That's great, Stiles!" Lydia smiled, "But, what about Aaron?"

Stiles shrugged. "I thought maybe you would know. Apparently he told Coach he was stepping down." He suddenly realized there were no other guys standing around and he was the last one there. "I've got to get out on the field. Are you guys staying for practice?"

"I am." Lydia told him. "Allison has to go though."

Allison shrugged. "Dad and Aunt Kate are having people over, so I need to make sure Nic isn't getting into any trouble."

"Okay, well I'll see you later." He kissed her quickly before running outside.

Lydia and Allison said goodbye before going off in separate directions.

As Lydia walked outside she didn't see Aaron at first.

"Hey, Lydia, can I talk to you for a second?" Scott asked from next to her.

She looked over at him with a jump. He'd sort of sneaked up on her. "Yeah, sure." She nodded and followed him under the bleachers. "What's up?" She asked.

"I just wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"The Molotov Cocktail." He told her. "I mean, I can't believe I was planning on going out there without some sort of weapon. It may not have worked like we'd planned, but it at least made a distraction long enough to get us out of there. So, for that, I'm grateful." He was inching closer and closer.

"It's no problem." She said, shakily as she took a step back. He grabbed her waist firmly and pulled her into him. "Sc-Scott? What are you doing?" She asked as she tried to unsuccessfully wriggle herself free.

"I just want to show you how grateful I am." Before she had time to process what he was doing, his mouth was on hers. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see him like this.

"Stop!" She yelled and balled her hands into fists and beat on his chest as she tried to push him away. "Scott, get off of me!" Tears began to burn behind her closed eyes.

Suddenly, Scott had let her go and she stumbled backward.

"What the hell is your problem?!"

It was Stiles. He'd pushed Scott and was now standing between the werewolf and Lydia. Scott turned back to Stiles, teeth bared. Stiles took a step back and put his arm out to keep Lydia behind him. Scott raised his clawed hand, as if he was about to hit Stiles across the face, but Stiles stood his ground and Scott seemed to realize what he was doing all of a sudden.

"Stiles? Lydia? Oh my God.. I'm so sorry. I'm so-" He took a step toward Lydia, and she took a diagonal step away from him and closer to Stiles.

Scott looked from Lydia's fearful expression, to Stiles's pissed off one, then turned on his heels and ran off. Stiles turned back to Lydia. "Are you o-"

Lydia threw her arms around him and buried her face in his chest as she finally began to cry. He wrapped his arms around her and held her.

"I know it wasn't him." She sobbed. "But I hate him, Stiles."

"I know." Stiles whispered. "I kind of hate him too."

"I think," Lydia began as she pulled away from him several moments later. "I think I'm just going to go home."

"Let me walk you to your car."

"What about practice? What's Coach going to think if both of his co-captains leave on the first day of being co-captains?"

"I don't care about that. I care that you feel safe." He grabbed her hand and led her out from under the bleachers and had her sit on the front row, then walked over to Coach.

"Stilinski! Get out there."

"Coach, actually, a family emergency came up and Scott and I both need to go."

"What!"

"I'm sorry. We wish we could stay, but we'll both be at practice tomorrow though. I'm sorry." He apologized once more, before running back toward Lydia.

"I just remembered that I rode in with Allison." She told Stiles timidly.

"It's fine. I already told Coach I wasn't coming back today. I wasn't going to let you drive by yourself anyway. Come on. I'll take you home."

Lydia followed him to the jeep, feeling numb most of the way there...mainly because she was trying her hardest to keep her mind clear. She knew the moment she let it in she would fall apart.

They were about halfway to her house when Stiles heard her sobbing in the passenger's seat. He quietly reached his hand over to grab hers, rubbing his thumb in small circles on the back of her hand.

"What if you hadn't showed up?" She whispered.

"What?" He asked, as he glanced over to her.

"I told him to stop and he didn't. If you hadn't come in...how far would he have gone?"

Stiles blinked a few times. He hadn't thought of that. It was Scott. Scott wouldn't...but then again... _Scott_ wouldn't have done what he did either.

"I don't know." He told her. "I know that doesn't make you feel any better."

"He's my friend, Stiles...I...I never thought I'd have to worry about..."

"I know." He whispered.

She had so many thoughts running through her head. Mostly she was upset because it was Scott. If it had been Greenberg...well first of all she would have been completely grossed out, but she didn't think she'd be as upset. Mostly she felt betrayed. But then she stopped thinking about the fact that it was Scott and started thinking about the fact that it happened and she couldn't do anything to stop it. Tears came back full force and she allowed herself to cry a little longer before speaking once again. "I always thought that if I was put into that situation, I'd be able to take care of myself. But his grip on me was so tight, I couldn't get free."

She felt Stiles's thumb on her cheek, wiping her tears away. Lydia opened her eyes, realizing they were stopped in her driveway, and she had no idea how long they'd been there.

"You probably think this is stupid." She mumbled..

He shook his head defiantly. "No. It's not stupid."

She shook her head, not listening to him, "I mean, it was just a kiss. He didn't touch me or-"

"Lydia stop!" Stiles raised his voice. "Listen to me. It's not stupid. He made you feel uncomfortable. You told him to stop and he didn't. He violated your trust. You and I both know that he wasn't himself- That Scott McCall would never do that. But I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to be alone in the same room as him ever again and I promise I will never let him make you feel that way again.

When Lydia saw Stiles at school the next day, he was wearing a brace on his hand. "Hey! What happened to you?" She asked.

He turned and she saw a fading scratch on his cheek and gasped.

"Oh.. I uh...fell down the stairs." Lydia looked at him as if she didn't believe him. "In other...completely unrelated news...Scott and I had a discussion about yesterday's events...possibly around the time the moon was at it's apex... but the point of the story is that you shouldn't have to worry about it happening again." And he left it at that.


	9. Wolf's Bane

 Lydia was on her way to class when she heard Scott call her name. His voice sent a chill up her spine.

She whirled around and saw him walking toward her and she put a hand up to stop him. "Can you please not?" He halted about ten feet away from her.

"I just want to say I was sor-"

"I know... and I know you weren't yourself, but I can't be around you right now. So... just let me walk away."

He nodded slowly and she turned back around and continued down the hall. When he walked into the locker room, Stiles took one look at him and shook his head.

"She didn't want to hear you out. Did she?" Scott shook his head. "And who was right?" Stiles asked.

"You were." Scott mumbled, then did a double take. "Are you actually dressing out?"

"Yeah...why not?"

"Well, you have a sprained wrist."

Stiles looked down at his wrist with an over-exaggerated expression of shock. "Holy shit! How long has that been there?!" Scott rolled his eyes. "God, I wonder whose fault _that_ was."

Scott shrugged. "A convincing case could be made for both of us."

"In answer to your question, I'm going to attempt to do what I can. If I sit out of practice again, I'll have to worry about even playing in the game, much less being co-captain." He sighed and mumbled, "Especially when the whole thing was the other co-captain's fault."

"Who confronts a werewolf on a full moon?" Scott asked in a harsh whisper.

"Someone whose best friend was basically assaulted by said werewolf, and who just so happens to be said werewolf's brother and thinks 'Oh, I'm his brother. He won't kill me.' And to be fair...I'm still alive." He gave a half shrug.

"Well, in my defense..." Stiles raised an eyebrow at Scott. "You shoved me first."

"Into a wall! You shoved me down a flight of stairs!" Stiles slammed his locker door, and began to walk away.

Scott sighed and yelled after him, "I said I was sorry!"

* * *

When Scott and Stiles got home, their parents were sitting in the living room.

"Stiles," his father addressed him. "We wanted to talk to you about something."

Stiles sighed. "We told you we were just horse-playing and it got out of hand," He looked down at his wrist and chuckled. "No pun intended."

Melissa shook her head. "That's not what we wanted to talk to you about." Stiles noted their serious tones and exchanged a look with Scott.

"Okay..."He said slowly and dropped his bag as he sat down.

"I'm just... going to my room." Scott said when their parents gave him a look that said this had nothing to do with him. Stiles knew he'd be listening in anyway.

"So..." Stiles started slowly. "What's going on?"

Melissa spoke up. "I saw Allison last night." Stiles made a face in confusion. "When we were at the Emergency Room while you were getting your arm X-Rayed." She clarified. Stiles widened his eyes. She wasn't at school today and he had texted her earlier, but didn't get a response.

"Was she okay?"He asked, a hint of panic rising in his voice.

"Oh, she's fine. She wasn't the patient." Melissa took a deep breath to calm herself. "Her _son_ was."

Stiles mouthed, "Oh..." Then asked, "Is Dominic okay?"

"He was getting stitches." Melissa told him before his dad continued the conversation.

"Son, why didn't you tell us your girlfriend had a child?"

Stiles shrugged. "I don't know...why should it matter?"

"Because you're sixteen!" Melissa's voice went up an octave, so she took a deep breath before continuing. "You're too young to be thinking about kids."

"Allison is his mom, it's up to her to decide what's best for him."

"But what about what's best for you?" His father asked. "What if you get attached to him? Or what if he gets attached to you...what if he starts calling you dad? What are you going to tell him?"

Stiles was at a loss for words. "I...I don't know... I guess I'd figure it out if it happened."

His dad sighed. "There's just a lot to think about when it comes to taking on another person's child as your own. Take it from us, we've both had to do it."

"Stiles, don't you remember you started calling me 'mom' before your dad and I were even engaged? And yes, that made me feel wonderful, but then I had to think about what would happen if it didn't work out between us. I was worried about how much you would be hurt."

"We just want to make sure you know what you're getting into."

"When a child is involved, there's a huge responsibility for both people. Yes, it's up to Allison to decide how much time you all spend together, but it's also up to you to decide how to handle certain situations and keep in mind that if you guys last, you're going to be a step-father. Is that something that you want?"

"I don't know."

"Sweetie," Melissa began again. "We just want you to be informed and think about things that you may not have thought about before."

"If we were having this talk because you had gotten her pregnant, I'd be telling you to man-up-that you had a responsibility to your child; but Dominic isn't _your_ child. If you stay with Allison, you're choosing to take responsibility for him, and I just want to make sure you know what you're doing. But if things end badly I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Okay." He nodded. "Are we done?"

The Sheriff sighed. "Yeah. We're done." Stiles stood up and was turning toward the stairs when he saw his mom make a pained expression out of the corner of his eye. He turned back and raised an eyebrow at her, but she seemed to have recovered.

"Are you okay?" He asked. She looked up in surprise, not realizing she'd been caught. The Sheriff quickly looked over at her and then back at Stiles.

"What happened?" He asked.

"She looked like something was wrong."

"I'm fine." She tried, before taking a sharp breath.

"Scott!" Stiles yelled, and Scott was downstairs in a flash.

"I'm fine, boys... rea-AH!"

Stiles looked at Scott and the brothers had a silent conversation.

"I think you should go to the hospital, Mom." Scott told her.

"I agree." The Sheriff said as he stood up. "It may be nothing, but on the off chance it's something..."

"I'll call Aubrey and let her know what's going on." Stiles offered, already pulling out his phone.

Melissa didn't even attempt to protest because she knew she would lose. The parents headed to the hospital and urged the boys to stay put, letting them know they would call with any updates.

Stiles hung up with Aubrey after telling her what happened (and that Kayce may need to stay there a little bit longer) then looked at Scott, silently asking him what was wrong.

He sighed. "Their heartbeats weren't as fast as what they have been. It worried me."

Stiles nodded. "I... I need to call Allison."

"I heard what they were talking to you about." Stiles nodded. "What are you going to do?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I mean... I really like her, Scott. And Dominic is awesome..I just... I didn't think about what that meant... you know?" Scott nodded and Stiles sighed.

* * *

Stiles had called Allison but she didn't answer and he was beginning to wonder what was going on. The Sheriff called Scott later to let him know that Melissa had been admitted to the hospital, but mostly as a precautionary measure, and if the boys wanted to come down they could. On the way to the hospital, Scott called Aubrey to let her know and she was going to meet them there with Kayce.

There could only be two people in the room at a time, and the Sheriff was not leaving her side, so Scott went in while Stiles stayed in the waiting room until Aubrey got there. He continued to try to text and call Allison but wasn't getting a response.

He sighed and looked up as he saw a familiar face coming down the hall. He stood quickly.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He spat.

"Scott texted me." Derek replied.

"Why would he text you?"

"You'd have to ask him that."

"Yeah, well _I_ don't want you here, so you should go."

Derek chuckled. "Well, you weren't the one who asked me here. I'm staying because Scott is in my pack."

"No, he's not."

"You keep telling yourself that." Derek sighed. "But if it makes you feel better...I've got somebody else here to visit. I'll leave and come back when you're not here and you can pretend you never saw me."

"I'd prefer if you didn't come back at all."

Derek let out a laugh and just walked away. Stiles realized his fists were clenched at his side, so he took a few deep breaths and unclenched and clenched them again to stretch them out.

"Stiles?" He felt his heart speed up slightly at her voice.

He turned to see the brunette coming down the hall, and all of a sudden the past few days hit him all at once. Tears filled his eyes as he walked toward her.

"Allison, thank God!" He wrapped his arms around her tightly and she returned the gesture.

"Is your mom alright?"

"I think so." He told her and pulled away. "I haven't seen her yet. Why haven't you answered my calls? What happened to Nic?"

"Nic is the reason I haven't answered your calls, but he's fine. My dad had some hunter friends over and one of them was stupid enough to let my two year-old son touch a knife. He had to get stitches in his hand and I've been so focused on taking care of him today. I've just kept my phone on silent all day long and I finally checked it right after I put him to bed." She looked down at his hand that was wrapped in a brace. "Your mom said you were getting your wrist X-rayed. What happened?"

"Ehh...I got into a fight with Scott. Last night. During the full moon."

"Stiles! What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't!" He admitted, then recounted the story about Scott and Lydia and how he'd ended up on the ground at the bottom of a staircase.

Allison sighed. "That was stupid. But noble. I can only hope that you would do the same thing if it were me."

"Of course I would." He reached up to stroke her cheek, and he suddenly knew. "And if Nic were in trouble...I'd fight a hundred werewolves for either of you." He pulled back slowly. "Um...you should know... I never brought up the fact that you were a mom to my parents, and they found out last night, so they sat me down for a talk today."

"They want you to break up with me." She said with a sad realization.

"Not necessarily... they just want me to be sure about what I'm getting into."

"And are you? Sure.. I mean."

"Absolutely."

"If you become less sure... just tell me..okay?"

He nodded. "I promise."

"Stiles, you can-" Scott began as he came around the corner. "Oh, hey, Allison."

"Hi, Scott."

"We have a problem." They heard and Stiles groaned.

"I thought you weren't coming back." Stiles said as he turned back to Derek.

"Yeah, well my uncle's missing."

"Missing?" Allison asked.

"Yeah, he's a patient here."

"Well. Maybe he just went to get food or something." Scott suggested.

"Yeah, except for the fact that he's been comatose for six years."

"Does that mean-" Allison began before Derek cut her off.

"He's the Alpha."

Suddenly the emergency room doors burst open and the paramedics began wheeling someone in on a gurney.

Scott focused his hearing to figure out if he could make out the name of the patient.

It was Mr. Harris.


	10. Co-Captain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter that I have written at the moment. I'm going to take a break from posting this story until Christmas is over, but continue to write and hopefully have a lot to post when I come back. In the meantime I'd really like to write a Christmas fic. I have a couple of ideas, but if you have something you'd like to see written, let me know!

"It was Peter." Derek muttered. "He did this. I was going to track the alpha tonight, but then I got your text."

"Who texted you?" Scott asked. Derek turned to look at him.

"You did."

"Well, this isn't good." Stiles rolled his eyes.

Scott gave his brother a look, then creased his forehead and looked up. "Kayce and Aubrey." He coughed.

"We're here." Aubrey announced as she neared the group.

"Is mommy okay?" Kayce asked her brothers.

"She's fine." Scott told his sister. "She really wants to see you."

"I'll take her back there." Aubrey said then turned to go down the hall.

"Oh, Aubrey," Stiles began, "Just so you know, they're limiting visitors to two people and dad's not leaving."

"Oh," Aubrey began, a confident smile forming on her lips. "They'll let all three of us in.. Trust me." She gave a wink and turned back to the hall.

Stiles puckered his lips as if he was trying to figure something out. "You know...she kind of scares me."

* * *

"Why am I just now hearing about this?!" Lydia yelled as she and Stiles walked into the hallway the next day.

"Which part? The part about Mom being in the hospital or the part where Peter is the alpha?"

"Both!"

"Well, I'm telling you now."

"And who sent Derek that text? And how did _they_ know about your mom?"

Stiles shrugged "We haven't figured it out yet."

"Have you told your dad? I mean, what if the reason they knew Melissa was in the hospital was because they're the ones who put her there. She needs extra security."

Stiles rolled his eyes. "Derek's there."

"Derek? You're trusting _Derek_?"

" _I'm_ not. But Scott is, and I know that Derek wants the alpha caught so he's not going to let anything happen to my mom. Plus, Dad isn't going anywhere."

Lydia gave a frustrated sigh. "Hey," Stiles put a hand on her shoulder. "It'll be fine."

"Maybe _I_ should go to the hospital."

Stiles tried really hard not to laugh. "Um... why?" He asked slowly.

Lydia narrowed her eyes. "What are you saying?"

"I'm not saying anything." He said slowly. "I just... want to know how you think you'll be helpful if an alpha werewolf is after my mother. No offense, Lydia, but there's not much you can do to stop it...there's not much _I_ can do to stop it either."

"I just feel useless sitting at home doing nothing."

"You won't be sitting at home. There's a game tonight. You're cheering us on, right?"

"You're playing?" She asked, looking at his still-sprained wrist.

"Well, I don't know how to tell Coach that I'm not...so yeah."

Lydia sighed again. "I don't know."

Stiles lowered his voice. "Are you still mad at Scott?" Lydia bit her lip. "You know, he really is sorry."

She nodded. "I know."

"And like I said..." He began as he held up his wrist. "I don't think you'll have to worry about it happening again." Lydia gave him a small smile. "Please come to the game, Lyd. You're my favorite cheerleader. You and my parents are the only ones who have been to all of my games, and since they're missing this one, you _have_ to be there."

"Fine." She said as she took a deep breath. "I'll be there. But just for you."

"Thank you!" He told her and gave her a friendly kiss on the cheek. "Gotta run to practice."

"See you later." She told him as she watched him walk away. Suddenly she heard someone clear their throat behind her. She turned around and saw Aaron standing there. "Hey, you." She smiled and gave him a peck on the lips.

"What was that about?" He asked.

"What was what about?"

"Stilinski kissing you."

"On the cheek? It was nothing." She told him.

"Yeah, well... I didn't like it."

Lydia smiled and hit him softly. "Are you jealous?" She asked teasingly.

"Yeah." He told her seriously, causing the smile to fall from her face. "I am. And I'd appreciate it, if he wasn't kissing my girlfriend in any capacity."

"Look, Aaron...he's my best friend. That's just our relationship-"

"Yeah...this is the guy you were making out with a couple of weeks ago at your party. You can tell me you guys never dated, It's fine... I believe you. But this makes me uncomfortable. Respect that. I mean... how would you like it if I just walked up and kissed Malia Hale on the cheek?"

Lydia looked down, not sure how to answer that. "I'll talk to him." She mumbled.

* * *

"Stiles!" Scott yelled when Stiles walked into the locker room.

"What?" He asked as headed over to his brother. Scott was pulling his phone out to show to Stiles.

"Derek did some snooping." It was a picture of a sketch of a wolf.

"Where did he get this?" Stiles asked.

"Apparently it was found clutched in Harris's hand... Look familiar?"

"Yeah. It looks like Allison's necklace. What do you think it means?"

"Have you ever asked her about it?"

"No."

"Well," Scott shrugged. "Maybe it's time that you do."


	11. Formality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone had a great holiday season! I'm back!

"Hey, Ali." Stiles addressed his girlfriend in the hall.

"You know," Allison said as she gave him a kiss. "I'm not sure when you started calling me that, but I really like it when it comes from you."

"Well, good." He smiled, then took a breath. "Look, question...Scott got this text from Derek." Stiles showed Allison the picture of her necklace.

"What is this?" She asked.

"The piece of paper was clutched in Harris's hand. We don't know what it means, only that it looks-"

"Exactly like my necklace."

"Yeah." He nodded.

"Well, I don't know what Harris would need with it... I just know what it means to our family. It's an old heirloom. Before me, it belonged to my aunt. There's nothing special about it."

"Huh." Stiles took the phone back and looked at the picture again.

"What? What is that look?" Allison pressed.

"Nothing." He shook his head.

"Stiles," Allison grabbed his non-sprained wrist to stop him from walking away. "Tell me what you're thinking."

"Well..." Stiles began slowly. "I'm only saying this because you asked me to," He said, slapping a disclaimer on what he was about to tell her. "And this just me spit-balling here, but we know that Peter is the alpha. What if the drawing of the necklace was meant for Peter, not Harris."

"Well, what would Peter want with my necklace?"

"What if it has something to do with the fire?"

"But it was nowhere near here when the fire happened."

"I'm not saying it was you." Stiles told her slowly.

Allison seemed to slowly realize what he meant. "Aunt Kate."

"Is it...possible that she..."

"Had something to do with the fire?"

"I'm not saying-"

"Yes."

"-that she...wait...what?"

"I absolutely think that she may be hiding something. But if Peter has seen that picture, then that means he may be after her as well."

"Well, that's if he knows who the necklace belongs to. I'm more worried that he'll come after you."

"Here," she said as she unclasped the chain and handed it over. "Take it."

"What?" He asked.

She grabbed his hand and forced it open before making him take the necklace. "You keep it. Hide it...destroy it. Whatever you need to do."

Stiles nodded slowly before shoving the necklace in his pocket.

* * *

 

Lydia tapped her foot nervously as she waited for Stiles to come out of the locker room. When he finally emerged, he didn't see her.

"Stiles!" She called him.

He whipped his head around to her. "Oh, hey...Lydia...can this wait? I really have to pee."

"I just..." She began, biting her lip.

His forehead wrinkled in concern. "Hey, is something wrong?"

"No! I mean...maybe...It's nothing...go."

"No," He began shaking his head. "Whatever it is, just-"

"Go! It can wait."

She could see the internal struggle. Part of him wanting to stay there and hear her out, but the other part knowing that his bladder may explode if he waited too much longer.

"Fine!" he finally said, "But I'm coming right back to find you."

Lydia nodded, but as soon as he had disappeared into the bathroom, she lost the courage she'd had and walked away.

"Did you tell him?" Aaron asked when Lydia almost ran into him.

"Hm?"

"I just saw you talking to Stiles. Did you talk to him about..."

"Oh...yeah. He's totally fine. It won't happen again."

"Good." He smiled and kissed her sweetly. "I've got to go get ready."

"Bye!" She told him. As soon as he had walked away, she released the huge breath she had been holding in. What was wrong with her? Why didn't she just say she hadn't talked to Stiles yet? She shook her head as she silently scolded herself, then began to calm down. She would talk to him eventually. It would be fine.

* * *

 

Lydia left school and went to the hospital. She knew what Stiles said, but she still wanted to check on Melissa. When she got to her room, Melissa was sitting on the edge of the bed and the sheriff was getting a wheelchair ready.

"Are you leaving?" Lydia asked and the two adults looked up at her.

"Soon, hopefully." Melissa told her. "Unfortunately, I've been put on bed rest."

"Well, that just means the boys will have to wait on you hand and foot." Lydia smiled.

"I wish that's what that meant. I hardly see them as it is." She said sadly, and shot her husband a look. She was obviously including the Sheriff in that statement.

Lydia looked over her shoulder. She thought that she would have seen Derek by now, but she hadn't.

"Looking for someone?" Noah asked.

"What?" She asked, before replaying his question in her head. "Oh...no..I...have you seen a guy around here? Dark hair about this tall.." She waved her hand in the air to demonstrate his height.

"You mean Derek Hale?" He asked.

"Oh...yeah..." Lydia felt stupid...of course the sheriff knew who Derek was.

"Last time I saw him he was having a pretty heated conversation with some guy. They were getting kind of loud so I went over to find out if I could help and they walked outside."

"When was this?"

"About an hour ago. Why do you ask?"

Lydia cocked her head. "I don't know..."She shook her head and smiled at Melissa. "I'm glad you're getting out of here soon. Let me know if the boys are blowing you off and I'll try to visit. Or talk some sense into them..one of the two."

"Thank you, Lydia." Melissa smiled gratefully. Lydia waved goodbye and left the room, pulling out her phone. She tried calling Stiles first, but didn't get an answer, then she called Scott. No answer from him either. It was about time she headed back to the school for the game, so she would just have to catch them then. Something wasn't right.

* * *

 

Stiles was sitting on the bench with the rest of the team as they waited for the game to start.

"Stiles!" He heard from behind him. He'd heard it before, but thought he was just hearing things, but that time it was definitely someone calling his name. He turned to see Lydia waving at him.

He looked over at Coach and back at Lydia, before making his way over to her.

"What's going on?" He asked her. "And where did you go earlier? What did you want to tell me?"

"Not important. I've called you like five times!"

"My phone has been in my locker since practice."

Lydia nodded in understanding. "I was at the hospital-"

"Is my mom okay?"

"She's fine. She was going home and they were putting her on bed rest, but that's not the point. Derek wasn't there."

"Where was he?"

"I don't know. But your dad said he left the hospital with a guy after having an argument." She took a deep breath. "I have a really bad feeling about this."

"Hey," He said, grabbing her hand comfortingly. "It'll be okay. We'll figure it out."

A whistle blew and Stiles jerked his hand away. "Good luck." She told him, as he put his helmet on and ran onto field.

Lydia surveyed the field, just catching sight of Aaron. And he looked pissed as he put his helmet on.

"Oh, fuck." She whispered.

* * *

 

Lydia was on the edge of her seat. The Cyclones were down by a few goals, but they shouldn't have been. Aaron was purposefully not passing the ball to Stiles when he was wide open. Lydia could see Stiles getting upset, and she was wringing her hands in concern.

"What the hell is wrong with my son?" Lydia heard from behind her. She turned to see Aubrey sitting there.

"That may be my fault." Lydia said. Aubrey raised her eyebrow but didn't ask her to explain. Lydia wasn't sure where she would even start if she did.

Aaron failed to pass again, and the other team ended up gaining possession of the ball- stealing it right out from underneath him. Scott was able to stop the thief and ended the play. Stiles's helmet came off and Lydia could see the anger fuming off of him from her spot in the stands.

"What the hell, Gardner?!" Stiles began to yell as he made his way toward the former captain. "Pass me the damn-"

"Shit!" Lydia jumped as Aaron's fist came down onto Stiles's face. She hadn't even noticed his gloves come off.

"That's it!" Aubrey yelled and stood up, as the ref kicked Aaron off the field. The team rushed over to Stiles who was on the ground holding what looked like his forehead, but she couldn't be certain from here. Before she knew it, she was running onto the field and Aubrey was dragging Aaron out by his ear.

"Stiles?" She called as she neared the huddle of players.

"Hey, Missy," Coach began, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. "What are you doing out here, get back up to the stands."

"But that was my boyfriend." She told him.

"Stilinski's your boyfriend?"

"What? No! _Aaron's_ my boyfriend. And Stiles is my best friend. I just need to make sure he's alright." Coach sighed, as he nodded toward the pack of boys.

Lydia moved her way inside.

"Stiles?" She asked.

"Lydia?" He groaned. He was still laying on the ground. But Lydia discovered he wasn't holding his forehead. He was holding his eye. His left eye. He peeked at her with his right one. "There are two of you."

"Well, that can't be good." She mumbled to him.

"No...I mean one is bad enough." He smiled. Jokes. That had always been his go-to move. Make jokes to get through the pain.

"Let me see it." She told him. He slowly moved his hand.

"It's bad. Right?" Stiles heard Coach ask.

"It hurts like a bitch." He mumbled, but honestly, he wasn't sure if anyone heard him.

"Stiles! Look at me." He heard Lydia again and tried to focus on her face.

"How is he?" He heard Aubrey's voice.

"Great! I'm going to be down two players." Coach's words were the last he heard before blacking out.

* * *

 

"Alright," Lydia said as she walked back into Stiles's living room with a bag of frozen peas. "Let me see it." Stiles moved his hand to reveal the nasty bruise that was forming around his eye. "Jeez…between my boyfriend and your brother it'll be a miracle if you make it out of sophomore year alive."

"Ha. Ha." He laughed sarcastically. Lydia sat in front of him and held the cold bag to his temple. "So," Stiles began. "Why are you here?"

Lydia sighed. "Because it's my fault."

"Did you tell him to hit me?"

"No." She smiled. She knew he was trying to make her laugh. "He saw you kiss my cheek earlier and he…expressed concerns about it… so I told him I would talk to you."

"But you never said anything."

"I know. I tried…that's what I was going to tell you earlier. But then I saw him right after that and he had seen me talking to you, and I got nervous and told him I'd already said something to you about it. So…I guess when we were talking at the game earlier, he saw something that he didn't like."

Stiles sighed. "So, what… I'm not allowed to touch you anymore?"

Lydia shrugged. "I don't know…"

"I mean…our relationship has always been physical." He realized what he said and gave a small laugh. "That wasn't what I meant."

"I know what you meant." She smiled and sighed. "I think that's why I didn't want to tell you. I don't want to have to change the way I act around you."

"Well, I don't want to get hit again. So… I'm going to just be more careful about how I act around you in public."

"While we're at it…" She began slowly blushing. "We probably shouldn't mention what happened the day my dad left… you know…between us? At least not for a while. Until it's not a big deal to everybody else."

He nodded. "Agreed… you know…because of the not-wanting-to-get-hit-again thing."

* * *

 

"Have you heard from Derek?!" Malia practically pounced on Scott the minute he walked out of the school. He stuck around to finish the game while Lydia drove Stiles back to their house. Scott was taking the jeep home.

Scott jumped at her sudden appearance and took a few deep breaths to calm himself back down. "No. I haven't. According to Lydia he left the hospital after talking to _some guy_."

"Peter." She stated angrily.

"We don't know that for sure." Scott reasoned as he continued walking to the jeep.

" _You_ may not know that for sure, but I do. It's him. And if I know Peter, and I do, he's gonna show up at the dance tomorrow."

"How could you possibly know that?" He'd made it to the jeep and threw his bag in the backseat.

"Because he's going to come looking for us."

Scott closed the door and turned to look at her. "Wait...I'm confused. Is he going to the dance _because_ we're there, or because he _thinks_ we're there?"

"What does it matter?"

"It matters because there are going to be a lot of innocent people at that dance. If he knows where we are, then we should just lead him out of town."

"Look, the winter formal is the most crowded place we could be tomorrow night. The most casualties. What would happen if he showed up and we _weren't_ there? Wouldn't you rather be there than not?"

Scott sighed. She had a point.

* * *

 

Scott walked through the front door and saw Stiles sitting on the couch with the television on and a bag of peas on his face.

"Hey," Scott said as he closed the door. "Is Lydia still here?"

"No, she left about ten minutes ago."

Scott nodded. "So, how bad is it?"

Stiles moved the bag and shot his brother a glare. Or maybe it wasn't a glare. Maybe that was just his face now.

"Oh, shit!" Scott exclaimed, but then quickly tried to back pedal. "I mean… it's not _that_ bad. It could be worse."

"I'm sure." Stiles replaced the bag and turned back to the television.

Scott sat down next to his brother. "So, what'd you do to make Aaron punch you like that?"

"Apparently I did something to his girlfriend that he deemed inappropriate."

"What was it?"

"I don't know. Breathed next to her I guess." Scott chuckled and Stiles cracked a smile. "You know…it doesn't hurt as much anymore."

"Really? That's good."

"Yeah… now it only hurts when I cough…or sneeze…or laugh…or move… but as long as I'm sitting perfectly still the pain is as a 9.5 instead of a 10."

Scott shook his head. "So…Malia and I are going to the winter formal together."

"What?!" Stiles whipped his head around. "Oh, mother of God!" He winced at the pain.

Scott couldn't help but laugh at his brother's reaction. "It's not like that…She thinks Peter is going to be there."

"Well, that can't be good."

"No. Not really."

They were quiet for another moment before Scott stood up.

"Come on." He told his brother. "We should go to bed."

"Yeah...I thought about that like 20 minutes ago, but I couldn't get up."

"Pansy." Scott chuckled and held his hand out for Stiles to grab. The moment Stiles made contact with Scott's hand, the werewolf immediately jerked it away.

"What the hell just happened?" Stiles asked with wide eyes. He'd felt something too.

"I don't know. Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." He said with confusion, then clenched and unclenched his fist of his sprained wrist. "Actually... my wrist feels better, and my eye doesn't hurt as much either."

Scott looked down at his hand where he swore just a few seconds ago he'd seen the veins go black. They were back to normal now.

"I want to try something." He said and reached for his brother's hand again. He grasped it, feeling a dull ache radiating from his hand and into his arm. Stiles sat there bewildered.

"Are you taking my pain?" Stiles finally asked.

"I think so." Scott let go and looked back at his brother. "How's that?"

Stiles blinked a few times. "It's fine. It doesn't even hurt at all now. I didn't know you could do that."

Scott shook his head. "I didn't either."


	12. Code-Breaker

Lydia pulled up to Aaron's house and took a deep breath before climbing out of the car. She wasn't sure how this conversation was going to go.

Mostly, she saw it going badly.

Aubrey came to the door when Lydia knocked.

Before the woman had a chance to say anything, Lydia spoke up. "I know he's probably in a lot of trouble and on normal circumstances you probably wouldn't allow him to see anyone, but I really need to talk to him."

Aubrey sighed. "He's in his room. You've got ten minutes."

Lydia nodded quickly and Aubrey stepped to the side to let the girl in. She'd only been here once before, but it wasn't very difficult to find his room. The door was closed so she knocked.

"What?!" He yelled when he opened the door. He looked like he regretted the way he answered the door for a moment, but then decided to stand by it. "What do you want, Lydia?"

"I wanted to talk to you." She said quietly. "I didn't…I hadn't talked to Stiles yet when you asked me earlier."

He scoffed. "Of course."

"I don't know why I told you that I had. When you saw us talking I was about to tell him, but he was in a hurry. When you asked, I figured that I'd have time to talk to him later and it wouldn't be a big deal."

"But you were talking to him at the game. You couldn't tell him then?"

She shook her head. "There was something else that was more important." She almost immediately regretted her choice of words.

"More important?"

"Aaron-"

"More important than just the one little thing I asked you do?"

"Yes." She told him confidently enough that he looked slightly taken aback.

He stared at her, and she bit the inside of her lip in an effort to maintain her stance. After a few moments, he nodded.

"Okay."

It was Lydia's turn to be shocked. "Okay?"

"Yep. Okay."

Lydia shifted on her feet.

"Okay…" She said again, and began to turn around.

"You know what I think?" There was an edge to his voice that made Lydia feel defensive. She turned back to him, ready to stand her ground. "I don't think you want to tell him." She opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off. "I'm not saying you were lying before, about telling him something important. I'm just saying that I think you like the attention you get from him, and you would put off telling him for as long as you can."

"I talked to him tonight."

He shrugged. "Because he wanted to know why he got hit, right?"

Lydia didn't know what to say. He wasn't wrong. She took a deep breath as she gathered her thoughts.

"The difference between Stiles kissing me on the cheek and you kissing Malia Hale on the cheek," She began, bringing up the scenario he had before. "Is that I've known Stiles our entire lives. Our moms were best friends, and he's always been the one person I could count on. It doesn't mean anything for him to kiss me on the cheek since he's been doing it since we were three."

"And how long have you been making out with him for? Does that make you feel anything?"

She shook her head, not because she was saying no (God knows he made her feel something). "It's not the same."

"You keep saying that." He gave a wry laugh. "Look…you said you already talked to him. Let's just move past it for now."

She bit her lip and nodded. Then, shyly asked, "Are we still going to the formal tomorrow?"

"Unless my mom decides the punishment she's already set in place isn't good enough, then yes. I'll pick you up at 6:00?"

She nodded, with a small smile, and began to walk away.

"Hey," He called and grabbed her wrist to stop her. She turned back and he kissed her. It was slightly intense- almost like he was trying to prove to her that she was his.

They heard someone clear their throat. And Lydia pulled away and looked at Aubrey.

"Your ten minutes are up."

Lydia blushed and bit her lip. "Bye."

* * *

 

Stiles stood against the wall of the gym, just observing. Why did he even still bother showing up? Allison canceled on him last minute. Her dad and Kate had both forgotten about the dance and they were both busy. Which meant there was no one to watch Nic. Allison was pissed and Stiles was trying his best not to be. (It wasn't working out so well.)

So, now here he was, having decided to still show up to the formal (just in case Scott and Malia needed help with Peter) stuck standing in the back. Scott and Malia were on the dance floor, but mostly they were trying to keep a look out, and Lydia and Aaron were sitting down at the moment. Stiles wanted to go talk to Lydia, but he was running out of eyes to blacken.

A few minutes later, Lydia walked up to him.

"Hey, I talked to Aaron. If you want to come sit with us, you can."

"Oh, thank God!" He said in relief. "I'm going out of my mind with boredom."

* * *

 

"Do you see him?" Scott asked Malia as she looked around.

She shook her head. "No. Not yet."

"Maybe we were wrong. Maybe he won't show up."

"No, he's going to be here. I know it."

She said it with an intensity that made Scott a little nervous.

Malia sighed. "I'm going to get something to drink." She told him before walking away.

* * *

 

Lydia and Stiles were laughing as they reminisced about the winter formal the year before.

"And then Coach Finstock-" Lydia was trying to recount the story, but she was laughing too hard. "God, Aaron you should have been there." She turned to where her boyfriend/date had been sitting earlier, but he wasn't there. She turned back to Stiles, who had an equally confused look on his face. "How long has he been gone?"

Stiles shook head. "I have no idea."

Lydia groaned. "He hates me. I'm pretty sure."

"I don't think he hates you. Me, on the other hand. I'm sure he despises." Lydia chuckled. "Hey, do you want to dance?"

Lydia bit her lip and thought for a moment, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Sure. Why not."

* * *

 

Malia sat down next to Scott and handed him a cup of punch , keeping one for herself.

"Isn't that your brother dancing with Lydia Martin?" She asked.

Scott nodded. "Yeah."

"They've been together for awhile. Right?"

Scott shrugged. "They say 'No'. He's dating the new girl, Allison and she's dating Aaron Gardner."

"Your brother's dating Allison Argent?" Scott nodded. "Huh...Your brother's got game."

Scott chuckled. "Hey, Lia-"

She gave him a quizzical glare. "Did you just call me 'Lia'?"

"Uh..the 'Ma' didn't quite come out. Sorry."

"No, I...My mom used to call me Lia. I've missed it."

"Oh...so...is it okay if I call you that?"

Malia nodded. "Yeah. I'd like that." She smiled. "Were you going to ask me something?"

"I-" Scott suddenly stopped. "Wait, did you see where Stiles and Lydia went?"

Malia surveyed the dance floor. "No. I don't see them."

* * *

 

Stiles walked into the boys' locker room. Some idiot bumped into him with his punch and now his shirt was wet and sticky. He knew that he had a spare shirt in his locker, and Lydia wanted to go look for Aaron so they split.

Stiles opened the door of his locker and reached for his shirt. He heard a clinkas something hit the ground. Allison's necklace. He reached down and picked it up. He'd forgotten about it. He left it there when he changed out the day before after Allison gave it to him. He put it around his neck so that he could get it out of the way, and changed shirts.

As he stepped out of the locker room, he nearly ran into Aaron.

"Whoa!" Stiles jumped. "Oh, hey Aaron. Did Lydia find you?"

Aaron shook his head. "She was actually looking for me?"

"Of course!" Stiles sighed. "Look, Lydia really likes you. I know she's probably told you this, but we're just friends. She's my best friend. And if you hurt her, because you're too jealous to get over the fact that she has other guy friends. Then you'll have to answer to me. And to be fair, you caught me off guard with that punch last night, but I could totally kick your ass."

Aaron smiled and chuckled. "Alright. If you say so."

Suddenly there was a loud ear-piercing scream that was coming from the direction of the lacrosse field. Stiles and Aaron exchanged glances before the former muttered "Lydia." And they took off.

* * *

 

Scott's ears perked up suddenly and he turned to Malia. "Did you hear that?"

"It sounded like a scream."

"It sounded like Lydia."

The two of them ran out. The gym was nowhere near the lacrosse field. That's where the both swore the sound came from. When they finally got there, there was somebody leaning over a body and they both smelled blood.

As they neared the two people, Scott realized the body on the ground was Lydia. The boy leaning over her was Aaron.

"What happened?" Malia asked him urgently as she bent down to check on Lydia.

"Where's Stiles?" Scott asked.

"He took him." Aaron sputtered out.

"Who took him?" Scott asked him.

"It was Peter." Malia told him solemnly, as she examined Lydia's ripped dress. "Peter's got your brother."


	13. Omega

Stiles was laying on his bed with all of the lights off, but it was only 7:00. A nervous knot had formed in the pit of his stomach several days ago and it hadn't gone away. He wasn't hungry, and he didn't want to talk to anyone. He wanted to stay right there, never moving, in the darkness that was his room.

His phone suddenly lit up and he saw it was his father calling. The knot constricted and he felt like he was going to be sick. Several thoughts played in his head. He knew this was _the_ call. The one to let him know they'd found Lydia. He just hoped they had found her alive. He wouldn't call if she wasn't, right? Unless he called to tell him that they needed to talk about the fact that his best friend since preschool wasn't going to be coming around anymore.

"Stop it." He scolded himself as he sat up and answered the phone. "Dad?"

"She's okay." His father said. The knot loosened and tears quickly sprung to his eyes and he rubbed them with his hand, taking a couple of shaky breaths. "Are _you_ okay?"

"Yeah," He breathed out and nodded (even though his father couldn't see that.)

"They're taking her back to the hospital to observe her overnight if you want to-"

"Thanks." Stiles hung up and took a deep breath before scrolling through his contacts and finding the one he wanted.

"Stiles?"

"Hey, Aaron... my dad called. They found Lydia if you want to go see her. He said she's fine, but they're taking her back to the hospital for observation."

He heard Aaron's sigh of relief. "Thank God. I'll head that way soon. Thank you for calling me."

"You're welcome." Stiles said softly and hung up. He assumed his dad would have also alerted Scott, so the only person really left to tell was Allison. Stiles took a deep breath before calling her number. It rang several times, then went to voicemail.

"Hey! You've reached Allison Argent. Sorry I missed your call, but if you leave me a message I'll get back to you as soon as possible!" _Beep._

"Hey, Ali. It's Stiles. I know that you don't want to hear from me right now, but I just thought you'd want to know that they found Lydia and she's okay. I'm not even sure if you got my last message that said she was missing, but if you didn't then...don't worry about it...because she's not anymore. That's all I wanted to say. Call me when you're talking to me again." He paused as he realized he was about to say 'Love you.' Except, they hadn't said that yet. And what crappier way to say 'I love you' for the first time than over a voicemail because your girlfriend (was she even still your girlfriend?) wasn't talking to you because you basically got her aunt killed? To be fair, it was her aunt's actions that got her killed in the first place, but it also didn't help that you put your girlfriend and her son's lives in danger too. "Bye." He finally said with a sigh and hung up.

* * *

"Stiles?" Lydia questioned as she saw him over Aaron's shoulder. Lydia was laying down in the hospital bed and Aaron was sitting next to her.

"Hey." Stiles said with a small smile as held up the stuffed bear he was holding and waved one of its hands.

Lydia chuckled. "Come in."

"I really-" Stiles began and Aaron stood up.

"I need to be getting home. I'm still grounded for getting kicked out of the game, so my mom's got me on a timer. I'll see you later." He leaned over and kissed Lydia on her lips and left the room, giving Stiles a small nod on his way out.

"Come sit with me." Lydia smiled. "I want to see my present." Stiles chuckled and walked over, sitting where Aaron had just gotten up and handed Lydia the cream-colored bear. "Awe, I love it!"

Stiles shrugged. "I just got it from the gift shop."

"I still love it." She said softly. They were both quiet for a few moments before Lydia spoke again, "The bite on my side isn't healing."

"It's not?" Stiles asked in surprise.

Lydia shook her head, then shrugged. "Well, it's healing, but at a normal human rate. Scott said once that Malia told him the bite either turns you or kills you. But if I was turning, the bite would be gone, but I'm not dead...so what am I?"

"I don't know," He told her with a slight shake of his head.

"Well, that makes two of us." She pursed her lips into a thin line then cleared her throat. "So...I haven't seen you since the formal. What happened?"

" _Shit_ happened. To put it bluntly."

Lydia nodded. "Do you want to elaborate on that?"

Stiles stared at an invisible spot on the wall, letting scenes from that night replay in his head. "I was with Aaron when we heard you scream." He said softly.

Lydia felt a chill go up her spine, remembering the details all too well.

"When Aaron and I got to the lacrosse field, we begged him to just let you go. You were on the ground and bleeding." Stiles stopped because his voice broke. He recollected his thoughts and took a deep breath and continued. "All of a sudden, Peter told me if I came with him he'd let you go. So I did. I found out later, he'd seen Allison's necklace on me. I found it in my locker and put it on so that I could bring it home. It was so stupid, because if I would have just left the necklace in the locker then-" He stopped and Lydia put her hand on his.

"If you didn't have the necklace you wouldn't have had anything to barter with. Then I may be dead."

Stiles shook his head. "We could have stalled him. Malia and Scott showed up right after I left. They could have done something. You would have been fine."

"You don't know that. You did what you had to do." Lydia tried to tell him.

Stiles was shaking his head again as tears filled his eyes. "I can't." He said, as he got up and turned to walk away.

Lydia quickly reached out and grabbed his wrist. "Stiles!" He stopped, facing away from her, "What happened?" She whispered. He turned back slowly and looked down at their hands and then finally to her eyes. They were pleading with him. She was so confused about what was happening to _her,_ the least he could do was clue her in to what was happening with _him_.

"This is all my fault." His voice wavered.

"No it's not. What are you talking about?"

He nodded. "It is. I dragged Scott out into the woods. It's my fault he's a werewolf. It's my fault Peter was at the school. It's my fault he saw the necklace. I put Allison and Dominic in danger and it's my fault her aunt is dead, and it's my fault Malia-" He stopped abruptly when he saw Lydia's face, and felt her rubbing her thumb on his hand soothingly.

"Stiles?" Lydia asked slowly when he didn't say anything for a while. "What happened to Malia?"

Stiles found that invisible spot on the wall again, staring at is as he mentally saw the horror show playing out in front of him.

"Stiles?"

"She killed him."

"What? Who? Who did she kill?"

Stiles gulped. "Peter."

"Wait…but I thought that if you kill an alpha…"

He nodded. "You become alpha."

"So that means…"

He nodded again. "And she's already making her pack."

* * *

 

Allison was laying down on her bed reading a book, Dominic cuddled up beside her, when she saw her phone light up. She rolled her eyes, assuming it was Stiles again, but was surprised when she saw Lydia's name.

"Hello?" She whispered slowly, only just realizing it was possible that Stiles was using her friend's phone in an effort to get her to talk to him.

"Hey." She heard Lydia's voice and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, I haven't heard from you in a couple of days." Allison told her.

"Yeah…Stiles said you probably weren't listening to his messages."

"Oh, God." Allison said suddenly, realizing how weak her friend's voice sounded. "He wasn't calling to talk to me. Was he?"

"Some of his calls may have been to talk to you, but he said he was trying to tell you that I'd basically gone out of my mind and was running around the woods naked for an entire day."

"Lydia! Oh my God! You're okay now, though…right?"

"I mean…probably not."

Allison groaned. "I feel like a terrible friend."

"It's okay. You didn't know. How would you? I mean…if you're not talking to Stiles then…" She trailed off. "Um…why aren't you talking to Stiles?" Lydia said slowly.

" He didn't tell you?"

"He just said it was his fault. I don't really know what that means…I mean… Allison, I've never seen him like this."

"If you're trying to make me feel bad then-"

"I'm not. I'm just trying to understand."

Allison sighed. "A few days ago, I gave Stiles my necklace so that Peter wouldn't connect me or Dominic to it. The night of the formal, he shows up at my house, says he's sorry, then Peter walks in holding the necklace, demanding to know where Kate was and forced me to take him to her. My dad and Kate weren't home. That's the whole reason I couldn't go to the formal. I couldn't leave Dominic by himself, so I had to take him with us. With an _alpha_ , Lydia." Allison took another deep breath. "I mean…last week, Stiles was telling me how he'd fight 100 werewolves for me and Dominic and instead, he brings one into my home."

Lydia was quiet for a moment. "He had to have had a good reason, Allison. I'm sure he didn't want to do it."

"It doesn't matter. Aside from the fact that was only the beginning of the problems he caused that night-"

"Don't blame him-"

"I have enough trouble keeping Nic out of all of this, and don't tell me not to blame him. You weren't there you have no idea."

"I wasn't there because you weren't Peter's first victim that night!"

The phone suddenly felt like a hot coal in her hand. Something she needed to get away from immediately. "You were bit?"

"Yes, but-"

"I'm sorry, Lydia. I have to go."


	14. Shape-Shifted

Stiles went to the hospital the next day and saw Mrs. Martin talking to one of the doctors outside of Lydia's room.

  
  


“Hey, Natalie.” Stiles addressed her mother.

  
  


“Stiles,” she nodded her head. “What are you doing here?”

  
  


“She's still getting out today, right?” He asked, nodding toward the room.

  
  


“Yes...That still doesn't explain why you're here. She doesn't need two of you.”

  
  


“Two?”

  
  


“Aaron already volunteered to take her home.”

  
  


“Oh.” Natalie must have seen the look on his face, because she smiled sympathetically. “If you still want to see her-” She began, but Stiles cut her off with a shake of his head.

  
  


“No. No...That's fine...just...let her know I stopped by.” Natalie nodded and Stiles turned around and walked away.

  
  


He realized now, he didn't like Lydia having a boyfriend. It was fine when they both had somebody, but it was different now. Maybe it didn't have to just do with Lydia. There was also the fact that he and Scott had gotten into another fight after that night.

  
  


His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out. Lydia.

 

“Hey.” He said into the speaker.

 

“Hey, my mom just told me that you stopped by. Did you need something?”

 

“No, I was just going to take you home.”

 

“Oh..” She lowered her voice. “Aaron stepped out for a moment, I could tell him to go home and you could come bac-“

 

“No. That’s okay. Spend time with your boyfriend.”

 

“No, something’s wrong. I know it is. I can tell. I’m going to tell him to leave.”

 

“Lyd…”

 

“Stiles! Please, come back.”

 

He sighed. If there was anybody listening in to his conversation, there would be no denying that he tried to do the right thing, but Lydia was insisting.

 

“Okay.” He finally said after a long pause. “But, I'm going to wait until I see him leave before heading in there. The bruising on my face is almost gone. I really don't need a repeat.”

 

“Alright.” She said with a small chuckle. “I'll see you soon.”

 

Stiles hung up and finished the walk to his jeep. He was going to sit there until he saw Aaron leave.

 

When he finally did see him walk out of the hospital, Stiles felt the slightest bit of guilt creep up. Aaron looked upset, but Stiles couldn't tell from here if he was mad, frustrated, sad or somewhere in between.

 

* * *

 

 

“Long time no see.” Natalie quipped when Stiles walked into view. Stiles looked down and shrugged.

 

“Thanks.” He told her softly. She smiled knowingly and nodded her head toward the door, telling him to go in.

 

Lydia , who was perched on the edge of the bed, sighed in relief when he walked in. “I was starting to think you were going to leave and I was going to have to go home with my _mom_.”

 

“I heard that!” Natalie called from the door that hadn't closed all the way.

 

Lydia chuckled but then turned to Stiles, “Which..by the way, that's what I told Aaron.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I told him that my mom wanted to take me home and had asked me to politely let him know so that he'd leave.”

 

“Oh...” Stiles mumbled, guilt creeping back in. “I feel bad, Lyd...I mean... doesn't it make you feel like we're doing something wrong when you have to lie to your boyfriend? And really, how good is a relationship built on lies?”

 

Lydia shook her head. “But we're not doing anything wrong. It's fine. Once he gets used to our friendship, we won't have to lie. We just... won't admit to all of the lies.”

 

“Well, that sounds like a recipe for disaster.”

 

Lydia swung her legs back and forth, then patted the empty space next to her. They were still waiting on her release to be official, so there wasn't much else they could do. Stiles sat down and Lydia leaned her head onto his shoulder.

 

“Speaking of disaster...I talked to Allison last night.”

 

Stiles froze at her name. “Oh?”

 

“Yeah...she freaked when I told her Peter bit me. She wouldn't even let me explain that nothing came of it...not yet at least I guess. She also told me about you bringing Peter to her house...”

 

Stiles shook his head. “I didn't want to.” Lydia tilted her head as she waited for him to finish his thought. “He threatened my mom.. and my dad, Scott, Kayce...” He lifted his eyes to look at her “You.” Lydia straightened slightly, as the boy's eyes unfocused. “Said he was going to go back and finish you off.” Stiles took a shaky breath and lifted his hand to neck. “He had his claws to my throat the entire time. I didn't know what else to do.” He didn't realize he was crying until he felt Lydia's hand rubbing his back.

 

“It's okay now.” She soothed. “Just breathe.” She moved her hand from his back to brush his cheek softly with her thumb. One minute Stiles was watching her look at him with such concern in her eyes. The next, his lips were on hers. His hand was coming up to cup her face and she was kissing him back.

 

The kiss went on for longer than it should have, before Stiles finally got his wits about him and pulled away, closing his eyes and wincing.

 

“I'm sorry. That...I shouldn't have...”

 

“No!” she began quickly. “No...it's uh..it's fine... It's okay... It's good... it was good.”

 

He looked down at their hands that had somehow come together and pulled his away from hers. “I should go.'

 

He stood and she reached for him.

 

“Wait, Stiles! Who's going to take me home?”

 

He shrugged and motioned to the door. “Your mom. It's what you told Aaron.”

 

Lydia's eyes widened for a moment at the mention of his name. She'd kind of forgotten about him for a bit.

 

“I'm just...”Stiles continued, moving his hand away from her grasp again, “I'm not in a proper head space right now and I shouldn't have done that-”

 

“It was just a kiss between friends...right?”

 

“....yeah....yes...of course...but uh..it's not something that we can tell Aaron about. And I don't want you to have to lie to him because of me.” He licked his lips. “So...I should go...before something else happens.”

 

Stiles closed the door behind him and Lydia began to cry.

 

* * *

 

 

Stiles was dressed in black dress pants and a white dress shirt as he stood behind a tree watching the funeral in front of him.

 

“Stiles?” He heard from behind him and saw Lydia approaching.

 

“Lydia? What are you doing here?”

 

“I could ask you the same thing.”

 

“I asked you first.”

 

Lydia nodded slowly. “I'm here for Allison. I know she doesn't really want to see me, but I feel like I need to be there for her.”

 

Stiles mirrored Lydia's nod. “I'm here for me...and Allison...but mostly me. It's my fault Kate's dead. I feel like I needed to be here for closure.”

 

“It wasn't your fault. Stop blaming yourself.”

 

“You know me...I'm just a big heaping pile of self-loathing , self-pity and self-doubt. Basically I eat sel-fish for dinner.”

 

“Did you just make that up?”

 

“I thought it was clever.”

 

Lydia didn't respond. They just watched Allison's family sit down in the chairs laid out on the lawn. The family was doing their best to ignore the crowd that had gathered.

 

About halfway through, Allison looked over in their direction and made eye contact. She didn't say anything, but kept looking up and over at them. There was no mistaking that she had seen them.

 

When the service was over, Allison immediately marched over to the tree, after passing Dominic off to a relative.

 

“What the hell are you two doing here?” Allison snapped.

 

Stiles didn't say anything. He couldn't. He was too busy trying to remember this moment. This moment where Allison was talking to him again... even if she was yelling.

 

“We wanted to be there for you, Allison.” Lydia told her. Allison's gaze softened at Lydia, then she turned to Stiles.

 

“Y-yeah.” He stuttered. He caught movement behind her head and his focus went to that. Allison noticed the shift in his gaze and turned to see her uncle slowly making his way toward them.

 

“Shit...” Allison muttered. “Okay, guys look that's my dad's Uncle Alexander. He's a little off his rocker lately. Alzheimer's.

 

“It _is_ you.” He muttered as he got closer to Stiles and Lydia. The red head reached out for Stiles's wrist.

 

“Uncle Alex, these are my friends-”

 

“They kidnapped me and blew up my truck!”

 

“He's been telling this story for years,” Allison muttered to her friends.

 

“Him and the _whore_. Like some kind of Bonnie and Clyde!” At the word, 'whore' Stiles put an arm in front of Lydia, as if that was going to protect her from his hateful words.

 

“Uncle Alex, go back to dad and grandpa.”

 

“They were dead!” He exclaimed with sudden horror. “They died, there were no bodies.. They're ghosts! Allison, get away from them, they're ghosts!”

 

“Hey, what's going on over here?” Chris Argent appeared, thankfully.

 

“Christopher! They're ghosts! They're ghosts!”

 

“He thinks Stiles and Lydia were the couple that 'kidnapped' him.” Allison used air quotes. No one in the family really believed the story apparently.

 

“Come on, Alexander. Let's go back to the family.”

 

Chris began to lead his uncle away as Alexander turned around and began screaming. “She's a banshee! The girlfriend's a banshee!”

 

Allison, Stiles, and Lydia stared at each other for awhile, before Lydia finally broke the silence. “I'm not turning.”

 

“What?” Allison asked, as she cocked her head at her friend.

 

“The bite isn't healing. I'm not turning. I don't know what that means...except that...I'm not a wolf.” Then, Lydia stole a glance at Alexander. Banshee.

 

“I'm so sorry, Ali.” Stiles tried. “I never wanted-”

 

“Thank you for coming.” Allison interrupted him. “I've got to go though. I'll talk to you both later.” She told them and then walked away.

 

Once she was out of ear shot, Stiles turned to Lydia. “She said she'd talk to _both of us_ later. Does that mean everything's okay with us?”

 

Lydia shrugged halfheartedly. “I'm not sure.”

 

“Lydia?”

 

“He called me a banshee.”

 

“The dude is not all there, Lyd. You can't believe everything he says.”

 

“What if he's like...psychic or something?”

 

“He thinks we kidnapped him. I'm not sure when he thought we did this between the growing up and werewolf stuff”

 

“What if we haven't done it yet. Like I said, he's psychic.”

 

“And why the hell would we kidnap an old man?”

 

Lydia shrugged. She didn't know, but he was calling her a banshee and that made her curious.


	15. Ice Pick

The day Allison returned to school, Stiles wasn't sure what to expect. As he stood at his locker, he felt someone approach him. Before he could turn around and fully take in who was standing next to him, Allison's lips were on his and her hands were on the sides of his head. He didn't kiss her back at first because he was still trying to process who it was, but once his senses got caught up, he put his hands on her waist and kissed her back. He refrained from deepening the kiss, because he was still slightly unsure of where their relationship stood, since he was almost 75% convinced they had been broken up.

Allison slowly pulled away from him, and looked up. "Hi." She smiled and bit her lip.

"Hey," He replied softly.

"Um," She began. "Look, I wanted to apologize for freezing you out the past week. I know I haven't been the best girlfriend-"

"We're still together?" He asked, genuinely befuddled. Her eyes widened in panic. "I just..." He quickly tried to clarify his statement. "I was under the impression when you told me to get out of your sight and that you couldn't look at me and didn't want to talk to me...that... that meant you were breaking up with me."

Allison shook her head. "I'm so sorry. I was...emotional and I took it out on you. I didn't mean for it to be a break up...I just... needed some time." Allison worried her bottom lip. "You didn't find a rebound girl or anything, did you?"

"No!" Stiles answered quickly, but smiled slowly. "I haven't had time. It was on my to-do list for this week."

Allison laughed and hit his arm playfully. "Shut up."

Stiles tucked a strand of Allison's hair behind her ear and lowered his voice. "Make me."

Their smiles faded when Malia walked into the school. It was like a scene out of a movie, slow motion, hair blowing, everyone stopping and looking at her. Walking with her were Isaac Lahey, Erica Reyes, and right next to her was Scott.

"Is he really with them?" Allison asked. Stiles tore his gaze away from the group of wolves and slammed his locker door closed.

"It sure looks that way." He sighed. "We got into a fight about it and currently we're not speaking to each other."

"He was able to resist Peter. Why isn't he able to resist her?"

Sties shook his head. "Maybe because she's the girl he's practically been in love with since the third grade?" Stiles could see the wheels turning in Allison's head. "What?"

"I've got an idea. You've had a pretty crappy couple of weeks and I wasn't much help, so I want to make it up to you."

"Um... okay?" Stiles was confused. "What are you going to do?"

"Just leave it to me." She smiled and kissed his lips once more before walking away.

* * *

It turns out that what she had in mind was a double date. She somehow got the keys to the Beacon Hills Ice Rink. (She wouldn't reveal her source, but Stiles had a pretty good idea of whom she got them from.)

The other couple was Lydia and Aaron of course. Stiles was hoping that after tonight maybe Aaron would realize he had nothing to worry about when it came to Stiles and Lydia being anything more than friends.

Aaron wasn't as steady on his skates as the other three. Lydia didn't mind showing off in front of her boyfriend though. Stiles and Allison clapped when she successfully landed a triple axle jump. (Aaron missed it because he had just fallen.) Lydia eventually took it upon herself to teach Aaron how to skate, and Allison and Stiles skated around the rink for probably half an hour before deciding to take a break and let the other couple continue their lesson.

"Thank you." Stiles said suddenly after they changed out of their skates and began walking around the building..

"For what?" Allison asked him.

"For...planning this...for getting me out of the house." He looked down as he sadly added, "For forgiving me for what happened with your aunt."

"Hey...what happened with Kate wasn't your fault and I'm sorry I ever blamed you for it. If anything, I should thanking you for forgiving me after I acted like a total bitch to you."

"You didn-"

"Stop, Stiles. You don't have to try to make me feel better. It wasn't just to you. I was a bitch to Lydia too. We should have all been coming together and instead, I was pushing everyone away. I may have had a right to be upset, but I was upset at the wrong people." Allison chuckled. "I actually had to force myself to be mad at you at one point. How silly does that sound?"

Stiles let out a small laugh. "It sounds a little silly."

"It sounds _extremely_ silly... and stupid and childish. But I couldn't stay mad at you..."Allison took a deep breath and Stiles smiled and looked away. "I couldn't stay mad at you because... I love you."

Stiles's head snapped up and he turned back to look at Lydia. "What did you just say?"

Allison smiled. "I said... I-"

Allison was cut off as a blood curdling scream echoed through the building.

Stiles and Allison both jumped. "Lydia." They both surmised before running back to the ice.

Lydia was on her knees in the middle of the rink, Aaron was knelt down next to her and she was just screaming. Stiles and Allison ran onto the ice, slipping and sliding until they reached her, crouching down beside her.

"Lydia!" Stiles tried to get her attention, touching her shoulder. "What happened?" He asked Aaron.

"I-I-I- don't know!" He stammered. "One minute she was fine, and the next..." He motioned to the state that she was in at the moment.

"Lydia?" Allison tried.

"Lydia!" Stiles yelled again. She suddenly stopped screaming, and the three friends looked around at each other. "Lyds?" He said softly.

She was sobbing quietly now, as she slowly lifted her head to face Stiles. Her mascara was smeared and tears were still falling down her face. "I'm so sorry." She whispered shakily.

"For what?" He asked, his heartbeat quickening in panic. Suddenly, his phone began to ring in his pocket. Aaron and Allison both gave him a strange look as he reached for it. "It's my dad." He told them as he had the overwhelming desire to ignore the call and not face the news on the other line.


	16. Abomination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, as an FYI, things may start to get a little crazy, story-wise. I'm still going to continue to use the episode titles, but the storyline may not have anything to do with those particular episodes.

Stiles didn't hear much after he answered the phone. His dad mentioned words like "accident" and "hospital," but at that point, Stiles was already stumbling back across the ice. Allison insisted on going with him, and Aaron opted to finish calming Lydia down then locking up for them- promising to get the keys to Allison before school the next day.

"Dad?!" Stiles called as he stormed into the emergency room. His father was standing at the nurse's station, no doubt having some sort of argument, and quickly turned around to catch his son in his arms.

The Sheriff had a cut above his right eye, but other than looked perfectly unscathed.

"What happened? Where's mom? Is she okay? She...she's going to be okay, right?"

Noah was quiet for some time and Stiles barely felt Allison's hand on his shoulder.

"She said something wasn't right." He began. "I was taking her here when this car just came out of nowhere."

"Dad...is she okay?"

The sheriff shook his head. "I don't know."

"Stilinski?" A doctor called.

The older man's head shot up, "That's me!"

"Mr. Stilinski, how about we step back here." Stiles felt his blood run cold and he knew his father had a similar feeling of dread wash over him as he nodded slowly and followed the doctor back.

"Stiles?" He heard Allison say, but she sounded so far away. "Stiles, you need to breathe."

"I ca...I can't." He was finally able to gasp out. He was faintly aware he was being pulled over to the chairs and being forced to sit down. Allison held his hand and rubbed small circles on the back of it.

Her voice stayed calm and even as she asked, "Have I told you about the first time Nic started walking?" Stiles shook his head. "It was the June after he was born. He'd been pulling himself up for awhile and was standing on his own and I just knew that he was about to st art walking soon." She paused to gauge his reaction. Stiles was trying to focus on her, and that was all that mattered. "I was sitting on the couch, reading a book, with the TV on in the background. I wasn't paying attention to what was happening on the screen. All of a sudden, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye and it's Nic," She smiled proudly. "Walking toward the television. He put his hand on the screen...and it's then that I realize I have absolutely no idea what I was watching, but there was a naked woman on the television and my son's hand is trying to squeeze her boob through the glass."

Stiles let out a chuckle, the story distracting him long enough to catch his breath. "What'd you do?"

"Well, I turned it off, and then told him how happy I was that he walked." She shrugged. "If I freaked him out, he would never want to walk again."

Stiles smiled and nodded. Softly, he added, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She told him, then kissed his cheek.

He was quiet for a moment, before looking around suddenly. "I wonder where Scott is."

* * *

"I brought you a water." Malia said as she walked back into her room, balancing two glasses of water and a phone.

Scott sat up on her bed and pulled the sheet around him as he reached for the glass. "Is that my phone?"

"Yeah, it kept lighting up, so I grabbed it." Malia told him as she handed it over to him. She climbed back into the bed, and pressed a kiss on his shoulder as she felt his body go rigid. "What's wrong?" She asked, immediately sensing the anxiety coursing through him.

"I have to get to the hospital."

Scott ran into the emergency room, looking around for anyone he recognized.

"Scott!" He heard his name and whipped his head around to see Aubrey standing there in her scrubs. She looked like she had been crying, but the worst part was the smell of grief radiating off of her.

"Aubrey...what happened…where's my mom?"

Aubrey looked back at Malia, and whispered, "Maybe you and I should go talk in private."

"No." Scott said adamantly. "Just tell me."

"There was accident." She said solemnly.

"And…is she okay?"

Aubrey took a deep breath. "She's in a coma."

Scott felt like he shrank two feet. "What?"

"The doctors aren't sure she'll come out of it."

He took a few deep breaths and he felt Malia touch his arm.

"What….uh….what about the babies?" He asked slowly.

Aubrey's eyes started to tear up as she shook her head slightly. "There's just one."

Scott felt like the wind got knocked out of him. "Oh."

"It had nothing to do with the accident." Aubrey quickly told him. "Mel thought something was wrong before…they were headed here when the accident happened."

* * *

"Hey, look it's Scott." Allison said as she and Stiles came back toward the waiting room.

Once the doctor had explained everything to Noah, he went back to update Stiles. The Sheriff went to see Melissa while Stiles and Allison had taken a walk around the hospital..

Stiles looked up, searching for his brother. Allison continued, "It looks like he's talking to Aaron's mom."

Stiles spotted Aubrey's auburn hair and felt tears begin to burn in his eyes. Scott locked eyes with his brother, and Aubrey must have seen him look off, because she turned around to look at Stiles too.

Stiles walked quickly toward Aubrey, throwing his arms around her as she tightly hugged him back. "Hey, kiddo." She whispered as she rubbed his back. Aubrey had been like another mother to him for a while and somehow her hug made it all feel okay.

Stiles wiped his eyes as he pulled away from her, and his hand found Allison's. He looked from Scott to Malia, and tried to ignore the feeling of anger rising up inside of him.

"I said I'm fine!" They heard a guy's voice yell. Stiles felt Allison's hand clench around his. He didn't think much of it, just that maybe the sudden outburst had startled her.

Aubrey sighed, giving a displeased glance in the direction the voice came from. "I've got to get back to work. Let me know if you need anything."

"Get off of me!" The voice said again and this time, Stiles noticed Scott's eyes begin to glow slightly, before Malia grabbed his hand to calm him down.

"Stiles, let's go." Allison whispered urgently in his ear.

Stiles nodded and started to walk away when a guy stumbled out into the waiting area. He was young, probably a couple of years older than them. He heard Allison give a small gasp and suddenly balk in her steps.

"Ali? Are you okay?" Stiles turned and asked Allison who looked like she had just seen a ghost.

The guy looked up, a smirk playing at his lips. "Well…look who it is." He took a step toward Stiles and Allison. Allison took a step back, and Malia took a step toward him, flashing her red eyes. He almost laughed. "You think that scares me? I've got a pair of those too." His eyes glowed red and Malia let out a low growl. He kept his sinister smile as he looked back at Allison. "So…Al…It's been a while."

"Look, Buddy," Stiles said suddenly, bravery coming out of nowhere. "I don't know who you are, but she obviously doesn't like you, so how about you just keep walking." Truthfully, he had an idea about who this guy was…not just in the way he related to Allison. Stiles had also heard whispers of the person driving the car that hit his parents being in the room that this guy had just come out of.

"Al, I'm hurt." He clutched his chest dramatically. "You don't talk about me?"

"There's not much to say, Jackson. You were kind of forgettable."

"Forgettable, huh? How _is_ our kid?"

"He's _my_ kid."

Jackson took another step forward, and Malia and Scott each took a step toward him, Stiles and Allison standing their ground this time.

"I think it's time for you to leave." Scott growled.

Jackson let out a laugh again, "Fine. Whatever you say. See you later, Al."

Once Jackson was gone, Stiles turned back to Allison. "So, let me guess…Nic's dad?"

Allison nodded. "I heard he became an alpha, but…" She looked back at Malia. "Thank you… for stepping in."

Malia nodded. "I know you guys don't like me that much, but you're still friends of Scott. Plus, he's stepping in my territory."

They were quiet for a few moments, before Scott sighed and looked up at Stiles. "Do you think Mom will be okay?"

Stiles took a deep breath, before clapping his brother on the back. "I hope so."

* * *

"Are you sure you're okay?" Aaron asked Lydia, for the umpteenth time that night. They'd finally made it back to her house and her eyes were ready to close.

"I'm fine!" She snapped. "I don't know what happened, okay?"

"And you don't remember anything you said or why you said it?"

Lydia shook her head. "No idea." She lied. She remembered it all too clearly. "Thank you for taking me home." She whispered before climbing out of the car.


	17. Venomous

The next several weeks happened in a blur.

It became necessary to Melissa's health for the doctors to deliver the surviving twin, a boy that Melissa and Noah had already decided on naming Elijah. The doctors weren't sure if Eli would be able to survive once he was born, and they also were not completely sure that delivering the baby, would mean that Melissa would make a full recovery. The one thing they knew is that if they didn't deliver the baby, they would both die anyway. The options were presented to the sheriff and he, with much coaxing from the professionals, chose to deliver the baby in an attempt to save both of their lives.

Elijah had a rough first couple of days before Deaton mentioned to Scott his werewolf powers might come in handy. Scott brought up the subject of kangaroo care and skin to skin contact with Eli's doctors, and they agreed to let him try. In the matter of a few days, they could see a remarkable difference in the tiny infant, and a few weeks later he was actually allowed to go home.

Unfortunately, Melissa still showed no change and it looked like she was going to be spending Christmas in the hospital.

* * *

Lydia became withdrawn. She didn't know how she knew about Elijah's twin dying or Melissa's coma before anybody else. Aaron couldn't seem to let it go. He wanted to know what she saw and why she screamed, but she didn't know how to tell him. One day, she remembered how Allison's uncle called her a "banshee." Lydia researched banshees and Celtic folklore for weeks before deeming herself crazy after waking up with a bloodied fist from seemingly punching a mirror in the middle of the night. She wouldn't talk with the rest of the pack, or sit with them at lunch. Instead, she opted to sit in the library.

"Stiles!"

Stiles was holding Allison's hand as they leaned against the locker, when he heard Aaron's voice. His head swiveled around to see the former captain coming up to him.

"Aaron…hey? What's up?" Stiles was slightly confused. Aaron barely talked to him outside of practice.

"Can I…talk to you?" Stiles looked at Allison and was about to make up an excuse (because to be honest, this was the guy that punched him in the middle of a game and he was a little nervous to be alone with him), but then Allison smiled.

"Actually, Nic has a doctor's appointment so, I need to be leaving." She kissed his lips quickly. "See you later." Then she walked away.

Stiles adjusted the straps on his backpack and shifted his feet as he turned back to Aaron. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Lydia."

Stiles groaned and shook his head. "Look, I've barely seen Lydia in weeks, so whatever you think is happening with us-"

"Wait, that's…that not what I was going to say."

"Oh…Well…if you were going to ask for advice then…"

"That's really not it either."

"Then what is it?"

"I'm worried about her."

Stiles felt a jolt of… _something…_ and gripped his straps tighter. "What do you mean? What's wrong?"

"That's just it…she won't tell me." He took a deep breath. "She's been acting weird ever since that night at the ice rink. I took her home and I could tell that something was wrong…I think she saw something…Somehow she knew what happened with your mom. And she wouldn't talk to me about it. And now… I mean… you said you've barely seen her in weeks…well… I haven't either."

Stiles licked his lips and shook his head. "Why are you telling me this?"

Aaron sighed. "Because as much as it bothers me…the two of you…you guys have something…and I think she just needs you."

Stiles looked down. "Aaro-"

"Look, Stilinksi. I'm not mad about it. Just…help her out. Please." Aaron looked like he was about to be in tears.

Stiles nodded. "Yeah…okay."

"Thanks." He mumbled and walked away. Stiles released the long breath he had been holding, made sure his locker was locked, and walked out.

* * *

Lydia was laying on her bed with the lights turned off when she heard the _thump_ at her window. She hugged the covers around her tighter, worried about what that _thump_ could mean. She heard it again and sat up quickly, looking over to the window. The sun was setting and casting an orange glow into the bedroom.

"Lydia!"

"Stiles?" She whispered. She finally got up and went to her window and looked down, seeing her dorky best friend standing on the ground below, a rock in his hand. She lifted the window and stuck her head out. "Stiles! What the hell are you doing?"

"Can I come in?"

"Why couldn't you just knock on the door like a normal person?"

He gave her a confused look. "I did. I've been knocking for like…"He looked at his watch. "10 minutes. Also, you weren't answering your phone."

"Oh…" She shook her head quickly. "Sorry. I'll meet you at the front door." She closed the window and made her way down the stairs. When she opened the door, Stiles was standing there patiently. "So…what are you doing here?"

Stiles shrugged. "I haven't seen you in a while." He looked down and fidgeted for a bit. "Aaron said he hasn't seen you in awhile either." Lydia groaned and looked away. "I mean…" He continued. "You not talking to me is one thing, but not talking to Aaron…I figured that meant something was wrong…so…"He shrugged his backpack off his shoulders and reached in pulling out each item as he said it, "I brought candy, popcorn, and _Dirty Dancing._ "

Lydia couldn't stop the tears from welling up in her eyes before she threw her arms around Stiles's neck. It took him a moment to register what was happening, but when he did, he hugged her back tightly.

* * *

"You know," Stiles began as he took a handful of popcorn. "I never really understood what was happening at this part."

"Seriously?" Lydia looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Stiles just shook his head and shrugged. She sighed and hugged the blanket closer to her. "She had an abortion, and then she had complications.

Stiles looked from Lydia and back to the television. "Really?"

Lydia nodded. "Yeah."

"Huh..."

He was quiet for a little bit...long enough for Lydia to look back at his face. It was scrunched up the way it always looked when he was thinking about something. "What, Stiles?"

"Wha- I didn'-"

"I know you didn't say anything, but you've got that look, so what's on your mind?"

Stiles opened his mouth, but stopped and shook his head. "It's nothing."

Lydia picked up the remote and paused the movie, then turned back to him. "Tell me."

Stiles licked his lips, and adjusted himself on the couch. "It's just...I don't get how someone could have an abortion." Lydia's features began to contort in anger, before Stiles noticed and quickly continued to defend himself. "I mean... it's just...my dad is a mess right now. And yeah..I mean...maybe some of it has to do with my mom, but I can see how much it hurts for him to see just one baby when there was supposed to be two."

"It's different." She replied quietly as she tried not to think about how she knew the other baby had died before anybody else. "Your parents were looking forward to two babies. They loved them both. And I'm not saying that women who have abortions don't love their babies...sometime I think it's _because_ they love them that they go through with it. When they know that the life they can provide wouldn't be a good one." She took a deep breath and Stiles nodded softly. "My mom had one." Stiles looked back at her. "Before me." Lydia shrugged. "She was around our age and not in any position to raise a child. The guy was douchebag and dumped her when she told him. She did what she thought was best."

"But look at Allison...she was younger than us when she got pregnant and now she's got this super awesome kid."

"And it's not easy for her, I'm sure. But she had her dad and aun-" Stiles looked away. "Sorry." She winced, having temporarily forgotten the role that Stiles played in Kate's death (Or at least the role he blamed himself for). "The point is, she had people who supported her. My mom had nobody."

"I mean...I get it." He shrugged. "I just don't think I could do it. To me, it sort of feels like you're abandoning it before it even has a chance." He looked down at his hands ."Just like my mother abandoned me. I mean... she just left. I would never do that to my kid."

Lydia comfortingly rested her hand on Stiles's knee. He took a few deep breaths then grabbed the remote from Lydia's lap and hit 'play'. She pulled the blanket closer and let her head fall to his shoulder.


	18. Frenemy

"It's officially winter break." Allison said happily before kissing her boyfriend.

"I know." Stiles replied, a mischievous smile playing at his lips. "Which means that for the next two weeks we can spend so much more time together."

"Um..about that..." Allison took a step away from him and Stiles groaned.

"What? What's happening?"

"Family trip to France?" Allison bit her lip. "Dad conveniently forgot to tell me...Well, he says he told me, but I don't think he did." Stiles didn't even attempt to hide the frustration on his face. "Hey," Allison said lightly and touched his arm. "What's wrong?"

Stiles huffed. "It's just...this is the first time I've had a girlfriend during the holidays. I was looking forward to the presents and kissing at midnight on New Years Eve."

Allison gave him a small smile. "I'll be back January 2nd...two days before we have to be back at school. We can do all of that then."

He shrugged. "It won't be the same."

"We'll make it our own." She sighed. "I've got to get home and pack. We're leaving the house at like 3 in the morning tomorrow." She kissed him, and when she pulled back they stared for a moment. Neither of them had said 'I love you' yet. Things had just been crazy in both of their lives the past few weeks and neither of them were sure when it was appropriate to say.

They seemed to have mutually decided now was not the time. Allison walked away and Stiles waited until she'd disappeared out of the double doors.

He sighed and slammed his locker door closed.

"Whoa…" Lydia was standing right next to him. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." He grumbled.

"Well, I hate to state the obvious here, but you don't seem fine."

Stiles took a deep breath and turned to walk with Lydia down the hall. "It's just…Allison just told me she's going to France for winter break."

"Oh...that means she's going to miss my party!"

"What party?"

"I decided to throw a holiday party. This weekend. You're coming." It wasn't a question.

"I am?"

"Yes."

Stiles sighed. "I don't know about that, Lyd. Eli's home and Dad's been stressed-"

"Which is why my mother is planning a shindig of her own and invited your dad, begging him to bring the new baby so everyone can fawn all of over him."

"The baby or my dad?"

"The _baby_ , dumbass."

Stiles cracked a smile. "So when and where are these get-togethers supposed to be happening?"

"Saturday. Hers will be at our house, and mine will be at the lake house."

He nodded, "Okay."

"Speaking of the new baby...I haven't met him yet!"

"That's right!" He said in realization. "I mean...I don't blame you... you've had a lot going on. I have too."

"Well, let's go then! We can babysit and give your dad a break to do whatever...whether that's sleep or go to the hospital."

Stiles cocked his head at her. "You really don't have anything else to do?"

"Nope! Let's go!" She smiled.

Stiles stared at her for a moment, wheels turning in his head. "Where's your car?"

"Uh..."She faltered. "My house."

"And why is it there?"

"Because Aaron drove me to school."

"So, you just want a ride, is that it?" Stiles laughed.

"No!" Lydia insisted. "I really want to hang out with you and your baby brother."

Stiles shook his head. "I don't believe you, but I'm not going to argue with you."

"Well, it's the truth."

* * *

"Oh my God!" Lydia exclaimed quietly when she saw Elijah asleep in his crib. "He's so tiny!"

"Well, he was born almost three months early. As of the last weigh in, he's finally average newborn weight."

"He's so precious." She cooed and touched his cheek with the back of her forefinger. "I forget how small newborns are. You don't see them very often and they grow so fast.

"Yeah...I know what you mean...I don't even remember Kayce ever being this small. I mean...I know she was..she just seems bigger in all of our pictures of her."

"But then again...you were smaller too."

"True."

Lydia looked up at Stiles and in a fleeting moment thought about how it felt standing next to him and looking down into a crib, and how natural it would be if they had a baby together in the future. The thought was gone as quickly as it came because, really...it was crazy.

* * *

"So," Lydia began as the credits began to roll on the movie they were watching. "How's it going with you and Allison? I mean...aside from the whole surprise European vacation."

Stiles shrugged. "It's going good. Dominic really likes me."

"Well that's good!"

"Yeah...what about you and Aaron? I mean... I guess you're doing okay since he took you to school today...although he didn't take you home so..."

She sighed. "He didn't take me home because I told him I was babysitting Eli."

Stiles raised an eyebrow at her. "You told him you had plans before you made plans?"

"It's not how it sounds."

"How do you think it sounds?"

"It sounds like I didn't want him to take me home so I lied and then in an effort to rid the guilt of lying to him I made it true."

"So that's not what happened?"

"No, it...well..actually no...that's kind of it... but it's not like I'm trying to avoid him...well I mean... I am trying to avoid him, but-"

"Lydia!"Stiles interrupted. "What's going on?"

"He told me he loved me." She blurted.

Stiles' s eyes widened. "Oh!"

"This morning...on the way to school."

"And you..."

"Didn't say anything. I sort of pretended like I didn't hear him and he didn't say anything else about it, so..." She shrugged.

"So, he just said 'I love you' and you just...sat there?"

"Well, it was like an off-handed comment. He said something and I sort of corrected him and he was like 'That's why I love you.'"

"But you don't love him..."

"I don't know." Lydia groaned. "Do you love Allison?"

Stiles nodded ."Yeah... I do..."

"Have you told her?" Stiles looked as if he was in deep thought about something. "Stiles?" She asked after several moments of silence.

"What time is it?" He suddenly asked.

"Um..."Lydia pulled out her phone and her eye widened. "Holy shit! It's almost 2:45 in the morning!"

"I've got to go!" He exclaimed and clambered to his feet.

"Wait, where are you going?"

"Just stay here until I get back!" He was telling her as he hopped around on one foot while attempting to put his tennis shoes on.

"What? Why?"

"Well, Dad left for the hospital a couple of hours ago and Scott hasn't made it home. Someone needs to stay with the baby."

"I meant, why are you leaving."

"There's something I have to do!"

He grabbed his keys and ran out the door. Lydia jumped when it closed and a moment later Eli began to cry.

"Ugh.. Stiles." She grumbled before heading up the stairs to check on the infant.

* * *

Allison was holding Dominic as she walked out of her house when she saw Stiles's blue jeep race into her driveway.

"Stiles?" She questioned when he ambled out of the jeep out of breath. "What the hell are you doing? It's nearly 3:00 in the morning."

"I love you." He said between breaths.

Allison stared blankly for a moment and Dominic lifted his head up off of her shoulder. "What?"

"I...love...you.." He told her again as he walked closer to her. "I've been wanting to tell you for weeks, but I wasn't sure when I should do it.... and I just realized you're about to leave for two weeks... and I just want you to know before you go that... I love you."

Allison broke into a grin and bit her lip. "I love you too."

"You do?"

She nodded. "I do."

"Good." He said before closing the gap between them and capturing her lips with his.

They heard someone clear their throat and the two teens broke apart. Argent stood back with his arms folded across his chest and Stiles nodded in his direction.

"Chris..."

"Stiles..."

"I just...wanted to give your daughter a proper send off."

"I saw."

They stared at each other for a moment and Stiles took a step back toward the jeep. "Well...have a nice trip."

"Goodnight, Stiles." Argent said, while Allison fought back a giggle.

Stiles stumbled back to the jeep and climbed in. He turned the key in the ignition, but before he could drive off, Allison quickly handed Dominic to her father and ran to the jeep. The window was rolled down and she kissed Stiles again.

"See you in two weeks." She told him as she rested her forehead on his.

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too. I'll e-mail you. Maybe send a post card or two."

"I probably won't get them until after you get back."

She shrugged. "Well then we'll look at them together."

"You should probably get back over there. I can feel your dad's glare searing holes into my skull."

Allison giggled. "I love you." She said it first this time.

"I love you too. Have fun...but not too much fun. Don't forget you've got a boyfriend back in the States."

"I could never forget about you."

"Allison! Come on! Time to go!" Argent called and honked the horn of the SUV.

"Bye!" She said quickly and skipped back to her dad's car.

* * *

Stiles opened the front door and Lydia stood there bouncing a crying Eli and Kayce sat at the kitchen table with her head resting on her folded arms. She looked up when her brother walked in.

"Stiles!" Lydia exclaimed. "Where the fu-" She looked over at Kayce and stopped herself. "Where did you go?"

Stiles just smiled ."Yes."

"What?!"

"Before I left, you asked if I'd told Allison that I loved her. The answer is yes."

"Oh..well that's great.. while you were off telling your girlfriend you loved her, we've been listening to your brother cry since _you slammed the door_!"

"Sorry," He apologize and took the tiny infant from Lydia's hands. In moments the crying stopped.

Lydia just stared for a minute. "What?!"

"Shhh..." He hushed her.

Her mouth dropped, wanting to say something, but she was so exhausted, the only words she could think to form were obscenities...which she decided against with present company in mind.

"I'm going back to bed." Kayce mumbled as she got up from her spot at the table and began to make her way up the stairs.

"I'm sleeping here tonight. I already texted my mom."

Stiles nodded. "Alright. You can go ahead and go to my room. I'm just going to make sure he's out and then I'll be there in a little bit."

Lydia nodded and began to walk up the stairs, stopping about halfway up to turn back around to face Stiles, a strange aching in her chest. It was in that moment that she realized without a doubt she was not in love with Aaron, as much as she wanted to be. She wasn't in love with Aaron, because she was in love with Stiles...and he loved someone else.


	19. Restraint

_"_ Merry Christmas!" Lydia announced joyfully as she opened the door. The Santa hat on her head flopped forward.

"You're adorable." Stiles told her as she adjusted the hat back on her head. "Ready to go?"

"Yep. Will you just help me bring these bags of decorations out?"

"Ahh. I see how it is. You only wanted me here for my muscles and my jeep."

"You caught me." She shrugged.

"Oh my God…it smells amazing in here!" He sighed contentedly as he stepped inside the house.

"Mom's making gingerbread cookies for her party."

"Wait…are we making cookies?"

"No," Stiles pouted. "But," Lydia continued as she dug through the bag on her shoulder. "We _are_ making eggnog." She then presented a bottle of spiced rum. " _Spiked_ eggnog."

"My favorite kind."

"The only kind that's worth drinking." Stiles picked up several of the bags and headed toward the jeep while Lydia shouted "Bye, Mom!" and stepped outside to close and lock the door behind them. She had to set a bag down to get to her key, and when she went to pick it up, the Santa hat slid down over her eyes.

"Stiles?" She called.

_"_ Yeah?" He asked, with most of his body inside the jeep as he tried to reposition the bag that had just fallen over.

"I can't see."

Stiles looked up and laughed at the helpless looking redhead.

"Hold on, I'm coming." He told her then jogged back over to her and adjusted the hat back on her head.

"There. Better?"

"Much." She smiled brightly.

"Are you going to wear that hat all night?" He asked once they were both back in the jeep.

"That's the plan."

"I predict that once you have a few glasses of eggnog, that hat will be long forgotten."

"I think you're wrong."

"Oh yeah? You wanna bet on it?"

Lydia thought for a moment. "Okay. What are the terms?"

"Alright…well…you only win if the hat never comes off-"

"Well, that's not fair. What if it falls off, or someone takes it off to mess with me?"

"Okay, well then let me rephrase. You'll win if _you_ never take the hat off _willingly_."

She nodded. "Okay. Okay… so if _I_ ever take the hat off you win. What do you win?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "What if we don't decide until a winner is declared?"

"Well then how am I supposed to know what I'll have to do?"

"Oh, is Little Miss I'm-Not-Taking-My-Hat-Off, already feeling defeat?"

"What? No! That's not what I meant." Stiles laughed and Lydia huffed and crossed her arms. "Fine." She sighed. "I'll decide what _I'm_ going to make _you_ do at the end of the night... after _I_ win."

"I'm sure you will."

* * *

"Stiiillless." Lydia's voice slurred as she grabbed his hand and pulled him back toward the crowd. "Danccce with meeee."

Stiles groaned as he let his best friend pull him along. One hand held hat in place on her head. "Where's Aaron?" Stiles asked her as she began to jump around to the music.

"I can't hear you!" She yelled back.

"Where's your boyfriend?!" He raised his voice so she could hear him above the noise.

"He left! He's on curfew still from when he punched you in the face!"

"Oh, right." He said, and winced at the memory.

_"_ I'm tired! Let's go sit down!" She grabbed his hand again and tugged him along.

"You literally _just_ pulled me out here." He grumbled.

"You know, you're not nearrrrly drunk enough."

"I think you're wasted enough for the both of us."

"Am not."

"Oh, I think so."

"Nuh uh." Lydia said as she pulled him down on to the couch.

"Yeah huh."

Lydia stared for a moment and started giggling. "I don't remember what we were arguing about."

"Then I think my point has been proven."

"You just need to have more fun." For emphasis she took her hat and placed it haphazardly onto Stiles's head. His eyes widened in shock and a huge grin slowly appeared on his face. "What?" She asked as she leaned back into the couch.

"I win."

She cocked her head in confusion, then with sudden realization she grabbed her head where her hat used to be. "My hat! You stole it!"

"No I didn't." He shook his head and laughed. "You just put it on me."

"You tricked me!"

"How?"

"I don't know." She pouted and crossed her arms. "Fine. What did you win?"

"I win…." He said as he looked around the room and thought about it. "Is that your camera?" He asked, pointing to a camera on a nearby shelf.

"You want my camera?"

"No, I don't want your camera... I want a picture of us on your camera _and_ I want you to print it off and put it in a picture frame next to your bed, so every time you look at it, you'll remember that I beat you."

"Ugh, fine." She grumbled. Stiles walked over to the shelf where her camera sat and picked it up.

"Alright, come on."

"Wait, you want a picture right now?"

"Yep, come on." He held his hand out and she sighed as she grabbed it and he pulled her up. "Let's take it right…."He shuffled them over to a spot, "Here." He turned the camera on and extended his arm then looked up. "Oh, would you look at that. Mistletoe."

"What? No! Don't kiss me!" Lydia laughed as she pulled away but he wrapped his arm around her tighter.

"I'm not going to-"He began to say, but at the last moment he leaned closer, his lips kissing her cheek and snapped the picture. He let her go and they looked at the picture together. Lydia's face took up most of the screen. Her eyes were squeezed shut and huge smile was on her face, Stiles and his (well Lydia's) Santa hat were still visible to the far right side, his lips firmly planted on her cheek. "Perfect."

"I look terrible." Lydia whined.

"You look beautiful." He argued. Lydia felt herself blush, deciding to blame the alcohol. "I miss Allison." Stiles sighed and went back to the couch, collapsing onto it.

Lydia sighed too. "We both need more eggnog." She paused, then added. "Maybe minus the eggnog."

 


	20. Raving

Stiles woke up with a pounding in his head. He took a moment to look around the room. He was laying on the couch in the living room of the lake house, red solo cups littered the floor.

"Lydia?" He tried to yell her name, but it came out in a whisper. He tried to sit up, but the slightest movement and he felt like he was going to be sick. He didn't remember falling asleep the night before, and he also didn't remember everyone leaving either, but it didn't look like anyone else was there.

His phone suddenly began to ring and he winced at the volume as he felt around for the device in his pocket. He squinted his eyes at the the screen and saw Lydia's face, so he answered.

"Lydia? He mumbled, barely coherent.

He heard a sniff followed by a shaky voice, "Stiles?" She was crying and she sounded scared. He sat up quickly, ignoring the awful feeling washing over him.

"Are you okay?"

"I...I think I did something...something bad."

* * *

"You knocked me out and resurrected a homicidal maniac!" Malia yelled.

"Alright, Wile E. Coyote, let's keep the yelling to a minimum." Stiles rubbed his aching head. "She didn't know what she was doing."

"Malia," Lydia began. Her voice shook with tears as she spoke, and she sniffled. "I'm so sorry. I don't know...I just...I..."

"Oh, well thanks!" Malia snapped sarcastically. "That was very insightful."

"Malia..." Scott tried, but Malia turned to him flashing her red alpha, eyes and let out a low growl. He shrank back.

"Okay! Look," Stiles began. "I don't know what kind of sick twisted alpha thing you have over my brother, but enough is enough. She said she was sorry. What more do you want? She can't change it, but I'm sure she would if she could. Do you actually think she'd bring him back on purpose?"

"That's my point! She didn't do it on purpose, so obviously he's in her head somehow, so how can we trust her?"

"Can I say something?"

Malia, Stiles, Scott, and Lydia all turned to the chained Peter and barked a, "No!"

Stiles sighed. "Look, I don't care if you trust her, but I do. Right now I trust her more than anyone else in this room." He looked pointedly at Scott.

"So, you're going to take responsibility if she does anything else while she's under his control?" Malia asked him.

Before he could open his mouth to reply, Lydia spoke up, "I can take responsibility for my own actions."

Malia turned to her with fake sympathy. "Oh sweetheart, if only that were true."

"Lyd, come on. Let's go." Stiles reached out for her, but she jerked away and ran past him. "Lydia!" He called out, but she didn't stop. He turned back to Malia. "You're a bitch!"

"Hey!" Scott said defensively. Stiles turned to him with an incredulous look on his face.

"You know...I take that back. I was wrong. She's not the bitch. Apparently you are." He groaned. "God, I'd rather talk to _him,_ " He motioned to Peter, "Right now than either of you." He turned to look at the former alpha. "And in case you weren't aware, I don't like you that much."

Peter shrugged. "Eh, I'll grow on you."

"I _really_ hope you don't."

"Are you okay?" Derek asked as he ran in.

"Oh, I'm great, thanks!" Peter replied.

"Not you." Derek said angrily and turned to Malia. "You."

"Yeah." She told him. "I'm fine. Just trying to figure out what to do with him."

"Well," Derek said slowly. "As much as I hate to admit it, it may be a good thing that he's back."

"Why would you say that?" She asked, as if she thought her brother had gone crazy.

"Because of this." He pulled his phone out and showed her something on it.

"Does that mean what I think it means?"

Scott and Stiles exchanged looks. "What's going on?" Scott asked.

Malia looked up at Stiles. "Your girlfriend's ex."

Stiles thought for a moment. "Jackson?"

Malia nodded. "He's not alone, and they've decided to stay."

"Okay..." Stiles began. "So there's another pack...I mean, I don't particularly like the guy, but we can deal."

"You don't get it!" Derek snapped.

"Well, then explain it to me!"

"It's not a normal pack." Malia told him.

"Deucalion." It was statement, rather than a question, but Derek still nodded affirmatively toward his uncle. Peter let out a short laugh.

"What the hell is a Deucalion?"Scott asked the question, that Stiles was also thinking.

"He's an alpha." Malia answered.

"But..I thought Jackson was the alpha." Stiles stated with confusion.

"They're all alphas!" Derek said impatiently. Derek saw the look on Stiles's face that said nothing was clicking in his head. The older beta rolled his eyes, and spoke slowly. "It's a pack of alphas, all recruited by Deucalion."

"So..."Stiles began again. "He's the alpha...of alphas?"

"Well," Peter shrugged. "That's what he calls himself anyway."

Scott's phone began to buzz. He looked down at the phone then locked eyes with Stiles. "Dad." Stiles nodded at him and Scott stepped outside to answer the call.

"So, what do we do?" Stiles asked.

"You do nothing." Derek told him bluntly.

"Hey, I'm just as apart of this as you guys are."

"You're right." Malia said. Stiles was about to smile when she continued, "You're actually a big part of all of these problems. "Your girlfriend's ex is one of the alphas, and your best friend is resurrecting psychopaths. So, yeah... you get a job. Your job is to keep your girlfriends under control, and if one you gets in our way, you won't like what I'll do to you."

Stiles was going to respond when the door opened and Scott walked back in. He looked at Stiles and back down to his phone. "It's Mom."


	21. Party Guessed

_Lydia slammed her locker closed and Stiles was standing there waiting for her._

_"Hi." She smiled as she rose to her tip-toes to kiss him._

The bell rang suddenly, and Lydia's head came up from the desk. "What the fuck?" She muttered to herself. She was falling asleep in class and having dreams about kissing Stiles? Lydia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She was _not_ about to begin to psychoanalyze her dreams.

"Was I boring you, Ms. Martin?"

Lydia shook her head. "Sorry, Ms. Blake. I don't even remember falling asleep."

"Well, I won't take offense...this time." She smiled warmly and Lydia returned the smile and nodded.

Ms. Blake was a new teacher that semester. She had come in to replace Mr. Harris who was still out on leave.

The strawberry blonde gathered her books and walked out of the classroom.

"Hey, Lydia. Mind if I walk you to your next class?"

A chill ran up her spine when she heard Jackson's voice. And not a good one. Her brain was flooded with all of these signals that said she needed to get away from him as fast as humanly possible.

"Actually, I do mind." She said shortly. "I'm meeting up with my boyfriend."

"Oh yeah? How _is_ Stiles?"

Lydia stopped, and turned to look at Jackson. "Stiles isn't my boyfriend, he's Allison's."

"Yeah...but you want him to be yours. I bet you even have dreams about him."

She stared for a moment before shaking her head. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response." She turned and began walking away.

"You don't have you. Your heartbeat tells me everything I need to know."

Jackson and the twins, Aiden and Ethan, had joined the school full time this semester. They were all apart of the alpha pack and Stiles assumed it was to keep an eye on Malia and her pack.

Stiles and Allison were the only ones that Lydia was talking to these days. They promised to protect her from whatever Malia was planning-if anything. Even then though, she'd been spending more time with Aaron and things with him were going really well.

Stiles and Allison had been almost inseparable since she game back from France, and from what Lydia had been told, Dominic really liked having Stiles around too.

"Lydia," Jackson began again. "Can you just do me a favor?"

Lydia kept walking ahead and didn't stop. "Why would I want to do you any favors? You nearly killed my best friend's mother and put her into a coma for two months."

"But I didn't kill her, and she's awake now."

It was true, Melissa had woken up and was actually able to go home on Christmas Eve.

"She missed two months of her children's lives. Her infant son, spent the first two months of his life not knowing what it felt like to have his mother hold him."

"And I'm sorry about that-"

"Are you?"

"Yes! Which is why I want you to talk to Allison for me and convince her that it would be good for me to see Dominic."

"What?!" Lydia spun around on her heels. "Are you serious?"

"You just said yourself, her son didn't know what it felt like for his mother to hold him for two months. My kid hasn't known how it felt for his dad to hold him for two _years_."

"Maybe he's better off for it." She turned around and he grabbed her arm to spin her back. "Ow! Let me go."

"Not until you promise to talk to Allison."

She shook her head. "No. I'm not talking to Allison. Especially not now."

Jackson's eyes began to glow red, and Lydia didn't know how she planned to defend herself if he tried anything.

"Jackson!" Aiden called him. "Let her go." She turned to see Aiden, Ethan, and Aaron walking toward them. Lydia finally felt Jackson release her arm and she immediately went to Aaron. He held her tightly, as Aiden and Ethan led Jackson away.

"Are you okay?" Aaron asked as he touched her arm where bruises were beginning to form.

She nodded softly. "Yeah. I'm okay."

* * *

"He did what?" Allison and Stiles yelled at the same time.

"It's fine." Lydia told them as she hid her arm again. Allison's eyes widened and she looked like she was about to say something, before Lydia quickly corrected. "I mean... **it's** not fine, but **I'm** fine."

"Well...what did he want?" Stiles asked.

She shook her head. "Nothing..he just..." She sighed. "He wanted me to talk to Allison and convince her to let him see Dominic."

"Oh fuck no." Allison was shaking her head adamantly. "He's seriously going to ask to see my kid and then physically assault you? He must be out of his goddamn mind."

"Was he ever _in_ it?" Stiles quipped with an eye roll.

Lydia shrugged half-heartedly. "I mean...he did make a valid point."

Allison cocked her head in surprise. "I'm sorry?"

"I just mean... if my dad wanted to come back to see me...I would want to hear him out." Her eyes flitted to Stiles, who was looking down at his feet.

Allison turned to her boyfriend. "Stiles?" He lifted his head and looked from Allison to Lydia, then back at his feet.

"I mean... Jackson is a jack ass. And I've only ever hated one other person before, and Jackson has definitely made the list." He sighed. "But that one other person was my mom. And if she were alive and came back...yeah I'd be fucking pissed at her." He took a deep breath. "But she'd still be my mom. And I would still be happy she came back." He looked back at Lydia as he added, "Even if I'd never admit it." He looked away as he shrugged. "On the other hand, if I found out that she tried to see my and my dad was the one who kept her from me... " He looked at Allison. "I'd be pretty mad at him too."

"So, you guys are saying I should let a psychopath within 10 feet of my son?"

Stiles shrugged. "I'm just saying... I think it should be something you think about. And I definitely wouldn't allow them to be alone. As much as I don't like her, maybe having Malia there wouldn't be such a bad thing." Allison shook her head and looked away. "Ali, look. I don't care what you do. If you want to keep Jackson away from Nic, I will support you 10,000%. Maybe now isn't the right time-hell, maybe never is the right time."

"No...I get it... I'll think about it."

The three of them got quiet for a moment before Lydia asked them. "Hey...can werewolves make you see things in your dreams?"

Stiles crinkled his forehead. "I don't think they have mind-control abilities... that's more of a vampire thing. Why?"

Lydia shook her head quickly. "No reason."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! So...first off, thank you much for continuing to read this series! That being said, I wanted to let you guys know that I've decided to take the month of July off from updating. Don't worry, it's not going to go anywhere, and it WILL be back in August. This break is for several reasons, and if you want to know just ask (either in the comments or find me on tumblr @eicartgeorge). (Don't worry, it's nothing serious.) In the meantime, I'm going to be working on some of the other stories I've written/am writing, so expect some updates on a few those maybe ;)


	22. Fury

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! And so is Teen Wolf! Yay!

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Allison mumbled as she wrung her hands together.

" _I_  can't believe you're doing this." Malia rolled her eyes.

Stiles shot her a look, before giving a look to his brother too.

Allison took a deep breath. "As much as I could have done without comments from the peanut gallery, Malia, I just want to say... thank you for being here."

Malia nodded. "No...I...I get it." She took a deep breath. "I was adopted." Scott didn't seem affected by the new information, so she'd probably told him already, but Stiles turned back to her with a softened expression.

"You were?" Stiles asked her.

Malia nodded. "It wasn't some big secret in my family. My parents never hid it from me, so I spent my childhood wondering who my biological parents were. Wishing I could talk to them...get to know them..."

"Did you ever find out?" Allison asked her.

Malia nodded hesitantly. "Yeah...and I wish I hadn't."

"Were they really that bad?" Stiles asked.

"My mother is a power hungry sociopath who calls herself the Desert Wolf and tried to kill me when I was a baby...and my father is Peter...who...ironically was also a power hungry sociopath who tried to kill me, so..."

"Who you _did_ kill." Stiles stated, in a stunned expression. "You killed your own dad?"

"My  _dad_  died in a fire set by Kate Argent. I killed my uncle."

Stiles cocked his head. "Fair point."

"Hewre!" A tiny voice said. Stiles looked down as Nic handed him a toy truck.

"Oh, thank you." Stiles replied as he held the toy in his hand. Nic walked away a grabbed another truck and put it on Malia's leg.

"I don't want it." Malia told him bluntly, and attempted to hand it back, but Nic wouldn't take it. The coyote, sat the toy down on the ground and Nic promptly picked it up and handed it back to her. Malia sighed and took the toy truck and rolled it down the hall with a fair amount of force. Nic ran after it.

"Malia..." Scott chided softly.

"What?" She snapped slightly.

Scott shook his head. "Nothing."

Stiles cringed inwardly. He hated this weird alpha control Malia had over his brother.

Nic came running back into the room with the toy truck and gave it back to Malia. She sighed.

"Fine." She grumbled.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and both Malia and Scott heard Allison's heart rate jump.

"Don't worry, Allison." Scott told her. "We'll be here the whole time."

The brunette nodded before getting up to answer the door for Jackson.

* * *

The meeting wasn't terrible. In fact, it went surprisingly well. If Allison was basing her feelings toward Jackson off of this one interaction with his son, then she would think he was great. Except that wasn't the case, and she  _knew_ that wasn't the case. He had a lot to prove of himself before she would allow Dominic to be alone with Jackson for any amount of time.

Malia and Scott left Allison's house shortly after Jackson did, leaving Stiles and Allison alone with Nic.

"So..."Stiles said slowly. "That went better than I expected."

Allison nodded. "You and me both."

"Tyuhl!" It was two year-old Nic's best attempt at Stiles's name.

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Pway twuck!"

He didn't need to be asked twice. In a flash, the teenager was on the floor rolling around (and also rolling the toy trucks around too) while Allison sat back and watched the interaction.

It was about 15 minutes later when Allison's father walked through the front door. "Is the coast clear?" He asked. He'd purposely stayed out a little later to avoid Jackson- mostly, at Allison's request. They both knew that if Chris were to see Jackson again, things wouldn't end well.

"Yeah, he's gone." Allison replied. "Do you need any help?" Argent was carrying a few grocery bags.

"No, this is all I got. Stiles, are you staying for dinner?"

Stiles opened his mouth to answer, but Allison spoke for him. "Yes, he is. What are we having?"

"I bought lasagna that you bake in the oven for like 20 minutes, then I'm going to toss a salad and I've got garlic bread too."

"That sounds great." Stiles told him.

"Good. Hey, Nic. Wanna help Papa in the kitchen?"

"Yeah!" He shouted enthusiastically before getting up and following Argent into the other room.

Stiles suddenly felt Allison's lips on his ear, then heard her whisper. "Hey, Stiles. Wanna help _me_ upstairs?"

"Oh yeah." He said quickly.

* * *

They stumbled into her bedroom, lips connected, and Allison with her back to the bed and her hands in Stiles's hair. Once they were in, he quickly spun them around, and pushed her back into the door to close it with a  _bang_.

The loud noise startled them, and they broke away for a moment."Shh!" Allison giggled, putting a finger to her lips.

"Sorry." He chuckled.

They stood in silence for a few moments to make sure they didn't hear Argent coming up the stairs or calling them back. When they heard nothing, Allison reached behind her and locked the door, then pulled her shirt over her head. Their lips came together once more and Stiles grabbed the back of her legs and lifted her up. As he walked them over to the bed, Allison tugged at his t-shirt and successfully removed it, just before she felt herself falling and her back hit the bed.

His lips came crashing back onto hers for a moment, but then left her mouth and worked their way down to her neck. Allison was enjoying the sensations until she felt a strange vibration against her foot, followed by a ringtone. Stiles groaned into her neck before reaching into his pocket for the phone.

"It's Lydia." He told her. He struggled internally with himself before finally sighing and muting the call. "If it's important she'll call back." He put the phone on the bedside table. "Now, where were we?"

"I was just about to do this." Allison said before quickly flipping them over so that she was now on top. She unclasped her bra and took it off, tossing it to the side. Stiles sat up so that she was sitting in his lap, and his mouth latched on to one of her breasts as her fingers threaded through his hair.

The piercing ringtone suddenly brought them back again.

Stiles's back hit the bed as he sighed in defeat, and Allison rolled off of him and onto her back so that she was laying next to him and groaned.

He blindly reached for the phone and didn't even check the caller ID, knowing it would be Lydia again. "Lyds, this better be important because I-" He stopped suddenly and sat up. "Hey, slow down. Are you okay?" Allison sat up too, in concern. "Where are you?" He asked as he swung his legs off of the bed and grabbed his shirt. "Okay. Okay, yeah I'm on my way."

"What's wrong? What happened?" Allison asked worriedly.

"Lydia found a body...a dead body."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sidenote: Stallison make out session was the weirdest thing I've ever written...


	23. Battlefield

 

"I'm going with you." Allison told him as she grabbed her shirt and threw it back on.

Stiles opened the bedroom door and headed down the stairs. "No, you don't need to do that."

"Why not? She's my friend too."

"She's already calling my dad. I'm just going to wait with her. I'll even bring her back here to eat." He sat down on the couch and grabbed his shoes that he'd taken off earlier and slipped them on.

"What's going on?" Argent came out of the kitchen with a towel thrown over his shoulder and Dominic in his arms.

Stiles and Allison looked at each other and Allison sighed. "Lydia found a body."

"And I'm going to pick her up." Stiles added. "I think it's better if Ali just stays here."

"But I-" Allison tried, but was interrupted by her father.

"I think Stiles is right. Just wait here, and he'll let you know if you're needed."

"Dad..." She wanted to argue, but Argent gave a slight nod to the two year-old in his arms. She sighed. "You're right." Allison turned back to Stiles who was now fully dressed and ready to leave. "Just...be careful."

"I will." He promised and gave her a chaste kiss before running out the door.

* * *

 

"Lydia!" Stiles called out as he jumped out of the jeep.

"Stiles!"She ran toward him and threw her arms around him, burying her face into his chest. His arms wrapped protectively around her and he rubbed her back.

Behind her, he could see the figure in the lifeguard chair and the blood splattered onto the concrete below. The sight made him hug her tighter.

"What happened?" He asked as she pulled away from him.

"I don't know...I was trying to go to the store and I just ended up here."

"You  _ended up_  here? What does that mean?"

"It means exactly what you think it means. I don't remember driving here. It was like I blinked and this is where I was." She shook her head and shakily added, "I don't know what's happening to me."

Stiles hugged her again and softly stroked her hair. "We'll figure it out." He told her softly.

* * *

The Sheriff finished taking her statement and told her she could leave if she wanted to.

"I'm going back to Allison's for dinner if you want to come with me?" Stiles offered.

" _Back to_? You mean you were-"

"It doesn't matter." He shook his head quickly and cut her off.

"I'm sorry." She shook her head and began apologizing. "I shouldn't-"

"Lydia!" Stiles stopped her again, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Being here with you was more important than... _being_  with Allison." She nodded slowly. "Okay...now...for my original question. Her dad is making lasagna if you want to join us."

Lydia felt her stomach rumble despite the unappetizing images she'd seen tonight.

"Sure." She smiled. "I don't want to go home anyway. Do you mind driving?"

"Not at all. Let's go."

As they pulled onto Allison's street, Stiles saw Lydia grip onto the edge of her seat, her knuckles turning white.

"Hey, Lyds...what's wrong?"

She shook her head. "I don't know... something feels off."

When they pulled up to the Argent house, Stiles was starting to feel the same feeling of dread that Lydia had. That's when he noticed the opened front door.

"Do you see that? The door's open." He said out loud.

"What are you doing?" She asked him nervously when he parked and opened the Jeep door.

"I'm going in...maybe they just stepped outside and forgot to close the door."

"Stiles, I don't like this." Lydia told him as she got out of the jeep carefully.

"Well, then stay behind me."

Stiles and Lydia walked slowly to the door and he knocked softly. "Hello? Allison? Chris?" He took a careful step inside. The front lights were all out, but he could see a light on down the hall. He fumbled against the wall for the light switch.

"Mommy?" The lights turned on and Stiles jumped when Dominic stood in front of him with tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Hey, Buddy." Stiles said softly as he bent down to the small child's level.

"Stiles?" Lydia mumbled shakily. He looked up at her, then followed her gaze around the room. Knocked over lamps, broken glass, and drops of blood were scattered across the floor.

"Nic, are you hurt?" Stiles ask him carefully as he picked him up and looked him over.

Nic shook his head 'no.' "Whewe's Mommy and Papa?"

"I don't know, bud..but we're gonna figure it out. Okay?"

Dominic nodded as Stiles reached for the phone in his pocket and called Allison. Her phone began to ring from the kitchen. He exchanged looks with Lydia before slowly following the noise, ready to shield Nic from anything he didn't need to see. Like Allison laying dead on the floor. Luckily, her phone was just sitting on the counter right next to her dad's.

"I think we need to call my dad."

"You do it." Lydia told him. "I already called him once tonight."

Stiles was dialing his dad when he looked around and sniffed. "What's that smell?"

"The oven's still on." Lydia said quickly as she pushed herself into the kitchen and turned the oven off. She took a peek inside and sighed. "That's one lasagna extra crispy."

"It was only supposed to take 20 minutes to make. This must have happened right after I left to get you."

"Stiles, what is it? I'm kind of busy." His father said when he answered the phone.

"Dad! It's Allison and her dad. They're missing!"

"How do you know they're missing?"

"I went back to their house, their door was open and they were gone."

"Maybe they just went out to the store and forgot to close the door."

"Well, then they also forgot to take Dominic with them and messed up their place pretty bad before they left... And Dad...there's blood. Not a lot, but..."

Stilinski sighed. "I'm on my way."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you guys are aware, when I finish this "season" of flashbacks and present day chapters on "Find My Way Back to You" I'm going to start posting the new chapters under a different title, but I will still update the flashback chapters under "What If" and the present day chapters under "Now What" just to keep them all together. Just giving you a heads up!


	24. Master Plan

Allison opened her eyes slowly. Where was she? She was laying on the floor, but her head was still spinning. She tried to reach her hand to her forehead when she realized she couldn't move. Panic flooded through her body. "Dad!"

"I'm here, Allison." She heard her father's calming voice, but she couldn't see him.

"Dad, I can't move." Her voice quivered.

"Take a deep breath, sweetheart. I'm pretty sure we've been drugged with something called kanima venom. It paralyzes your body from the neck down. The effects normally last for several hours. It's just something we're going to have to let run its course.

She blinked tears out of her eyes, and tried to nod. "Okay." She took a few deep breaths. "Where are we?"

"It's a bank vault." She heard a voice that didn't belong to her father. It was female and sounded young.

"Who are you?" Allison asked the new person.

"My name's Cora. Cora Hale."

"H-H-Hale?" Allison stuttered. "Any relation to Derek and Malia?"

"Yeah, they're my brother and sister. You know them?"

Allison attempted a shrug. "I helped save Derek's life when my aunt tried to kill him, and Malia was just at my house this afternoon."

"So they're okay?" Cora asked timidly.

"Last I checked."

Cora sighed, and Argent spoke up. "Cora, I'm Chris and this is my daughter Allison. You said this was a bank vault?"

"Yeah..um...I've only caught a few murmurings here and there, but it sounds like the bank closed a few years back, so they're using it as a base of operations."

"Who is they?" Chris asked.

"The alpha pack."

"Jackson." Allison said in realization. "That bastard! He-oh my God! Dominic! Where's Dominic? Where's my son?"

"He's fine." Jackson's voice came from outside of the room, but then she heard the vault door open and close, then two thuds, and then Jackson was kneeling in front of her.

"You son of a bitch." Allison scathed.

"I would never hurt him." Jackson said so seriously she almost believed him. "They promised me they wouldn't bring him here, and I waited at your house to make sure he was okay."

"If you waited there, then where is he?"

"Your boyfriend and his girlfriend have him."

Allison clenched her eyes shut in anger since she couldn't clench her fists. "You mean Stiles and Lydia." It wasn't a question. "He's with _me_. She's just his friend. There's nothing going on between them."

Jackson let out a laugh. "It's cute that you believe that."

She knew Jackson was just trying to get into her head, bur it didn't stop that bit of doubt. "He loves  _me_."

"I'm sure that's true. It doesn't mean he can't love her too."

"He doesn't." She told him again. "Not in that way."

Jackson chuckled. "Are you trying to convince me or yourself?"

Allison couldn't stop the hot tears from burning her cheeks as Jackson silently stood up and walked away. She heard the door open and shut once more.

There was a groan from somewhere in the room, then a softly whispered, "C-Cora?"

"Malia?" Cora whispered back.

"Malia!" Allison said in shock, but unable to see the alpha. "What happened?"

"Allison?" Malia asked.

"Yeah."

"I..I don't remember."

"What's going on?" There was another mumble.

"Scott?" Malia wondered aloud. "The last thing I remember you were leaving my place."

"That's the last thing I remember too."

"Well..." Another voice joined the conversation. "Sounds like the gang's all here."

"Grandpa?" Allison recognized the voice at the same time as her father said, "Dad?"

* * *

"Scott's not answering his phone." Melissa told Stiles worriedly. "Have you heard from him recently?"

"Not for a couple of hours." Stiles replied. "I'll try calling Malia and see if she knows where he's at."

"Okay, let me know if you hear anything."

"Will do."

Stiles hung up and looked at Lydia. They sat at the foot of Allison's bed as Nic slept on it. With some convincing from Stiles, the Sheriff decided to let the two of them stay with him upstairs while the rest of the sheriff's department examined the crime scene below.

"Was that your mom?"

Stiles nodded. "Scott's not answering." He shakily dialed Malia's number, and it went directly to voicemail.

"Stiles," Lydia said softly as she heard his breathing become shallow. "Are you okay?"

"I...I think I'm having a panic attack."

"Okay, hey." She said as she took his phone and grabbed his hands. "Everything's going to be okay, just try to get your mind off it. Think of something else."

"Like what?"

"Like...remember the first time I kissed you?"

Stiles shook his head and let out a breathy laugh. " _I_  kissed  _you._ "

"I think it was mutual."

He nodded slowly as he tried to catch his breath. "We were twelve." Lydia nodded and him to go on. "We were invited to go to our first middle school party and you watch way too much TV." He let a out a chuckle, his breathing slowly returning to normal.

"I was worried they would play spin the bottle or seven minutes in heaven and my first kiss would be with somebody I didn't know or like."

"So I suggested that we kiss each other, to get the whole first kiss thing out of the way...that way it wouldn't matter if we got paired with somebody we didn't know."

"Do you remember where we were?"

"The game room at your house." He answered immediately. "That's when I kissed you."

" _I_  kissed  _you_."

"Then you suggested we practice kissing with each other."

"And you were very quick to agree."

"Hey... kissing is fun."

"I have been told I'm a very good kisser. I guess I have you to think for that." Stiles laughed. Lydia was quiet for a moment listening to his breathing to make sure it was normal again. "Are you okay now?"

Stiles nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'm good. Thanks." He smiled and squeezed her hand a little bit tighter. She returned the smile and rested her head on his shoulder.

There was tap at Allison's door and Sheriff Stilinski walked in. "We have something."

* * *

"I'm going to ask you one more time, then I'm going to stop asking." Kali growled at Malia, whose face was bloody and beaten. "Kill your beta, and join our pack." Malia looked over to Scott.

"No. I won't kill him."

"Fine." Kali dropped her, and Malia landed with a thud on the ground."Bring them in, baby."

Ennis smiled wickedly. "As you wish."

A few moments later, Chris, Gerard, and Allison were thrown onto the floor. Malia couldn't help but sigh in relief that it wasn't Cora. Thankfully, it seemed they hadn't made the connection between the two. Plus, Cora had explained that she'd been starved of moonlight for months and the moonlight was shining all over this room. They would all be torn to pieces if she were let out.

"The Argents." Deucalion said menacingly. "The oldest family of hunters known to us."

"We don't hunt." Allison spat. "We protect."

Deucalion tilted his head softly to the side before Gerard opened his mouth and growled. "Speak for yourself, Allison." Deucalion's features hardened again, before he cocked his head toward the three of them. Ethan and Aiden walked forward toward the family.

"Wait," Jackson tried with some hesitation. "What are you-"

Aiden turned to Jackson and stopped him from going to them, as Ethan picked Allison up with protests from Argent and Gerard.

"Please!" Allison begged as she was dragged toward Malia. Ennis turned the dial on the electricity that was linked to the shackles on Malia, high enough that it forced her to shift. "Please don't kill me!" Allison cried. "I have a son. Please don't do this."

Ennis grabbed Malia and forced her mouth open, but at the same time Ethan and Kali paused what they were doing, the statement of Allison being a mother catching them off guard.

Ethan looked up at Jackson. "You said he was her brother."

Jackson didn't try responding, knowing he wasn't good enough at controlling his heartbeat.

"Who cares!" Deucalion said quickly as he took matters into his own hands, grabbing Allison's arm and bringing it down to Malia's open mouth.

The doors were suddenly opening and there was yelling and gun fire. The sheriff's department had shown up at the same that Derek, Peter, Isaac, Boyd, and Erica had. Ethan tossed Allison back to her father, and Ennis dropped Malia. Scott scrambled toward her the best he could, the venom just in the beginnings of wearing off. Because of the pain, the venom was leaving Malia's body a lot faster and she quickly struggled to her feet and ran out of the door.

"Wait, Malia!" Scott called to her. The alphas left as fast as they could. They didn't want to get killed, and killing all of these people was not part of their plan.

The shooting stopped and Stiles ran in, and found Allison.

"Allison! Are you okay?"

"Where's Nic?" She asked him urgently.

"He's with Lydia."

"Have you been with her this whole time?"

Stiles shook his head in confusion, unsure if he was hearing her correctly. "Yeah we were watching Nic while we waited for news about you." He reached for her but she jerked away from him and stumbled to her feet. "Ali? Wait..." He reached out and grabbed her arm, the teeth marks deep and clearly visible. She jerked it away from him as quickly as she could. "Who bit you?"

She shook her head and bit her lip angrily, before hobbling toward the door.

"Malia." Argent whispered before glaring at his father.

"Why would she-" Stiles began, but Chris shook his head.

"She didn't have a choice. They forced her to. She was too weak to fight them."

Stiles looked around the room. "Wait..where did Malia go?"

Malia rushed back into the room and bent over in pain. "I've got some bad news." She told the room. "Cora's missing." Stiles looked around at the mixture of confused and worried faces.

"Okay, I'll bite. Who's Cora, and why is it bad that she's missing?"


	25. Tattoo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, I'm back! So sorry for the delay... I literally had this chapter completely written before I even posted the last chapter.... and then I freaked out, and it went through several rewrites... I have no idea what happened. Thanks to @lizzyberry28 on Tumblr for being a third pair of eyes on this chapter and dealing with my freak outs at 3 am!
> 
>  
> 
> Also, if you get a chance, read this post. https://eicartgeorge.tumblr.com/post/164718809006/send-me-stydia-christmasholiday-prompts I want to write a ton of Christmas/Holiday Stydia fics and I need prompts. If you think of anything, send me an ask on tumblr, or DM me on twitter leave me a comment on here.

"Allison?" Mrs. Morrell whispered softly.

The brunette bit her lip. Her arms were folded, and she slouched in the chair in front of Morrell's desk.

The guidance counselor sighed and leaned forward. "This is a safe space, Allison. I know what's happening to you."

"You have no idea what's happening to me!" Allison snapped, immediately regretting it. "I'm…I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Morrell seemed unphased. "You're upset. You have every right to be. Getting bit wasn't exactly something you had planned."

"Not something I had  _planned_? It's something I didn't  _want_. I  _never_  wanted it. How am I supposed to take care of Dominic, when I could kill him without even realizing it?"

"Dominic is your son?"

Allison nodded and was silent for a moment, before beginning again, "I come from a family of hunters. If one of us were to get bit, we're supposed to kill ourselves before the first full moon."

Morrell nodded. "I'm aware of the Hunter's code." The counselor cocked her head to the side. "Are you telling me you're thinking about following the code?"

Allison shrugged. "I guess I still have a few weeks to figure it out."

* * *

"Allison won't talk to me." Stiles said as he plopped himself down in the chair.

Morrell looked up from her lunch and sighed. "Nice to see you too, Stiles."

"She's not talking to me and I'm worried."

"She's trying to process a huge change in her life, you just need to give her some time."

"But I don't want to give her time, because that means I need to stop talking to her, and then I'm afraid she'll think I'm ignoring her."

"She won't think that. Just tell her you're going to respect her wishes and leave her alone, but that you'll be there when she's ready to talk."

Stiles sighed and leaned back in the chair.

"Do you think that'll work?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out."

* * *

"Scott," Morrell began softly. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" The beta had come into her office and sat down without saying a word. "You were going to tell your parents about the supernatural...did it not go as well as you hoped?"

"No," He shook his head. "It went great. They're actually being really understanding."

"Then what is it?"

Scott sighed. "I think Malia's ignoring me."

Morrell nodded slowly. "Okay..."

"I mean, she's been with Cora ever since they found her, and right now things don't look good...they think Cora was poisoned and the last time I spoke to Malia, she was talking about giving up her alpha spark to save her sister. She wasn't sure if it would work, but I haven't heard from her, and she hasn't been at school...and I don't know if this concern is because she's the alpha, or because she's my girlfriend."

Morrell nodded again, "Well-"

Her office door swung open. "Tell him to leave me alone!" Scott and Morrell both turned to Allison.

"Allison," Morrell motioned to Scott, "I'm with another student-"

"No, it's fine." Scott shook his head and stood. "I'm sorry to bother you-"

"Scott," Morrell tried but he just shook his head and walked away. Morrell let out a deep sigh, then motioned Allison to the now-empty chair.

Allison sat slowly, obviously feeling bad for interrupting Scott's session. Morrell folded her hands and cocked her head, waiting for Allison to begin.

"It's Stiles. He won't get off my back."

Morrell let out a sigh. She tried to tell the poor boy. "He's just concerned."

The door swung open again. "Mrs. Morrell I-" Stiles began but then saw Allison sitting down. "Oh...I..."

"Stiles!" Morrell said happily. "Perfect. Please, have a seat."

"I should go." Allison tried to stand, but Morrell stopped her.

"Allison, sit. We should all talk about this together." Allison settled back and Morrell turned to Stiles. "Close the door, and uh...lock it this time. We don't need anymore interruptions. " Stiles did as he was asked and grabbed an extra chair from the corner. "Allison, please continue."

Allison looked down. "I've asked you repeatedly to give me some space. Why can't you accept that?"

"Because I'm worried about you, Ali. I'm worried that you're pushing people away when now is the time that you really need someone."

"Well, I don't need you!" Allison snapped without even looking at him.

"Wh...what?" Stiles looked as if he'd been hit.

Morrell spoke up, "Alright, let's-"

But Allison cut her off. "I've been avoiding you on purpose, Stiles. I can't stand to look at you." Stiles blinked as hot tears sprung to his eyes. "Because this is all your fault."

"M..My fault? What the hell are you talking about? I had nothing to do with you getting bit! If you want to blame somebody blame Gerard...you know...the guy who was apparently egging them on-"

"Don't bring my family into this!" Allison finally turned to look at him. "I didn't see you being much help."

"How could I help?! I wasn't even there when you guys were taken-"

"Exactly. You weren't there! Because you were off with Lydia!"

"Oh my fucking...are you kidding me? You're bringing up my friendship with Lydia  _again_? Be glad I was with her, because I would have been taken too and then Dominic would have been by himself for God knows how long-"

"Jackson was watching him-"

"Jackson?! Are you hearing yourself right now? He wasn't even inside the house. There was broken glass everywhere, Nic could have gotten hurt-"

"You left him alone later-"

"I left him with  _Lydia_ , someone I trust a hell of a lot more than Jackson."

"There we go again with Lydia." Allison scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"What the hell is your problem?!"

"You're my problem. Being with you has proven to be more bad than good."

Stiles glared angrily, tears still burning his eyes. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying...I don't want to be with you, Stiles." Allison looked away. "I'm saying...I wish I never met you. Any of you."

He stood from the chair, breathing heavily. "Well, fuck you very much."

Morrell blinked a few times. She'd tried several times to interject, but they wouldn't let her get a word in edgewise. "Stiles, wait-" She attempted, but then the door slammed behind him. "Well..." She began as Allison still sat there. "I feel like that could have gone better."

Allison looked up at the counselor with tears in her eyes. "I didn't mean it.."

Morrell shrugged, and told her honestly, "I think I'd beg to differ. I think you meant everything. And I think under normal circumstances you would have just kept it to yourself. But nothing about your circumstances is normal." Allison bit a quivering lip,and nodded slowly."Maybe you should apologize."

"No...it's better this way. He deserves better than me...He deserves to be with someone who's going to be around."

"Where are you going to be, if not around?"

"France. We're moving. There's someone there who's supposed to be able to help me learn control. I may be back...but I don't know when."

"Why didn't you just tell him that?"

"Because it'll be easier if he's angry with me."

"Easier for who?" Morrell asked the brunette, but Allison only shook her head.

* * *

Mrs. Morrell was headed to her car when she saw Scott walking to his. It had been over a week since he'd left her office after they were interrupted and she hadn't seen him again.

"Scott!" She called out to him and he turned to look at her.

"Hey, Mrs. Morrell." He smiled.

"You seem happy."

"Yeah, I'm going to go see Malia today."

"Oh! How is she?"

"I don't know. I just finally decided I was going to go visit her."

"Oh..."She said with surprise. "Well...be safe."

"Thanks. I will."

Morrell reached for her keys to unlock her car, when she realized she didn't have them on her. "Ugh...dammit." She muttered before turning back to head toward the school. She passed Lydia, who seemed to be annoyed as she marched past the guidance counselor. Then she noticed where the frustration had most likely come from. Morrell cleared her throat as she passed the couple whose tongues were shoved down each others' throats. They separated and she gave them a polite smile. "Caitlyn.. Stiles."

"Mrs. Morrell." They both mumbled. Morrell shook her head once she passed them. At least Stiles seemed to be moving on.

* * *

"Lydia, are you okay?" Morrell asked the strawberry-blonde as she sat in the chair across from her.

Lydia knitted her eyebrows together and looked around to see if there was another 'Lydia' she was missing. "I'm fine.  _You're_  the one who called  _me_  in here."

"Well, I've just seen a lot of your friends in my office recently. Plus Allison just moved away, and I know you two were close..."

"We're still close." Lydia shrugged. "We email like everyday. Honestly, Stiles is the one who took it hardest, but he's off screwing a different girl each night, so I think he's okay now."

"Did either of them talk about their break up?"

"You mean about how Allison used mine and Stiles's relationship to sabotage theirs? Yeah. She told me. She wanted me to hear it from her. To know it was true, but that she didn't mean it. And once she moved, I think Stiles understood it too. I don't think it made it hurt any less though."

"So, you're good?"

"I'm fantastic! I've got a wonderful boyfriend, it's the last day of school, and I'm throwing an end-of-the-school-year party this weekend. I've got this life thing pretty figured out."

* * *

"You're breaking up with me?!" Lydia exclaimed, blinking a few times. When Aaron had asked her to come over, this was not what she thought would happen.

"Lydia…"Aaron said slowly.

"I guess I should have seen this coming. You're going to go off to school, and I'm sure you want to be able to date as you wish, and not have to worry about having a high school girlfriend back home." Aaron didn't deny it, and Lydia shook her head. "I guess I can at least appreciate the fact you told me right before my party so that I can get completely shit-faced and not have to worry about the repercussions." She sniffed as she gathered her bag. "Thanks."

"Oh, hi Lydia!" Aubrey greeted her as she walked through the door, just as Lydia was trying to leave.

"Hi, Aubrey." Lydia mumbled as her eyes shone with tears.

Lydia could just make out Aubrey's voice saying, "Aaron, what did you do?" As the teenager made her way out of the house.

* * *

"Scott?" Melissa knocked on his door, but Scott couldn't bring himself to answer her. He squeezed his eyes closed and gathered the blanket tighter around him. He heard his door open and Melissa was walking toward him. "Hey, kiddo... do you want to eat breakfast?"

"No." Scott told her softly. He was afraid if he said much more, he would break down again. He hadn't left his room in several days and even missed Lydia's party the night before. Part of him knew she'd be pissed, the other part didn't really care.

He was grieving. After not hearing from Malia for over a week, he went to the loft that she and Derek shared. Peter answered.

_"Is Malia here?" Scott asked._

_Peter gave him a blank stare before replying, "She's dead."_

_Scott felt like he'd been punched in the gut. "Wh-what?"_

_Peter smirked. "You heard me." He swankily took a few steps backward. "She gave her power to Cora and while she was weak..." He brandished his claws and flashed his blue eyes. "I killed her." Scott's fists clenched at his sides. "I slashed her up into little pieces and then set her on fire." Scott's eyes burned yellow. "I mean... it was only fair. She killed me first-"_

_"You bastard!" Scott lunged at Peter but was quickly knocked to the side, and onto his back._

_Peter growled and stomped a foot onto Scott's chest._

_"You should leave. And don't come back here."_

"You need to eat something." Melissa gently coaxed. "I'm worried about you."

"She's gone, Mom... she's dead." He finally let himself cry, something he'd been trying his hardest to avoid.

"I know, sweetie." Melissa told him as she stroked his hair. She too was familiar with losing someone like that, after having lost her first husband, Scott's father, in the line of duty. "And it sucks, and it's terrible...and it's okay to be sad. But, eventually, you'll have to pull yourself out of bed, eat something, and start to move on." She sighed. "You have some friends downstairs, should I send them home?"

"Friends?" Scott asked as he turned to his mother.

"Yeah... Isaac, Erica, and Boyd."

When Scott appeared at the top of the stairs, the three wolves stood up.

"Malia's gone." Erica said.

Scott nodded. "I know."

"We don't have an alpha." Boyd spoke next.

Scott nodded again. "I know." He repeated as he looked down.

"So?" Isaac wondered aloud. "Scott, what do we do?"

Scott raised his eyes slowly to look at his fellow pack members. They were all waiting for him to give the word.

* * *

Lydia opened her eyes slowly and winced at the bright sun streaming through her window. A pang in her chest remind her that Aaron had broken up with her the day before.

Lydia sighed and readjusted her pillow so that it was blocking as much sun as possible. She'd definitely gotten more than a little drunk at her party last night and now her head was killing her.

_Lydia was on her third drink of the night when she saw Stiles standing against the wall._

_"Stiles!" She called out and awkwardly stumbled over to him._

_"Hey, Lyds." He attempted a smile. "You seem a little tipsy already."_

_"Aaron dumped me, so I'm drinking my feelings." She raised the cup in her hand. "Cheers." Then she took a gulp._

_"I'm sorry. Getting dumped sucks."_

_"So," Lydia smiled, "Whose bed did you wake up in today?"_

_"My own, thank you very much."_

_"Uh uh." She smacked her lips together and looked around the room, "So, then I guess the question is who was sneaking out of your house at 7 am?" Stiles's eyes flitted across the room then back to his drink before taking a sip. Lydia looked off the direction he had, and saw one girl in a circle of several guys. "Erica?" Lydia looked back at Stiles. "She's a new one. How was it?" She didn't know why she subjected herself to this torture by asking him questions that she really didn't want to know the answer to._

_Stiles shrugged. "It was okay, I guess."_

_"Just okay?"_

_Stiles downed the rest of his drink. "I'm going to need another one of these if we're going to have this conversation."_

_What had happened to Stiles? She didn't really remember him leaving last night._

_A hand suddenly fell over her torso and she looked down, alarmed. Oh...that's what happened to him._

_"Ugh!" Lydia groaned as she walked into her room, and put the skeleton key on her nightstand. "Can you lock the door back?" She asked Stiles, who'd followed her in. She had kept her door locked to avoid strangers accidentally finding their way into her bedroom._

_Stiles did as he was told then heard a sniffle from the other side of the room. Lydia was standing in front of her closet crying._

_"Are you okay?" He asked her._

_"No." She sobbed. "My boyfriend dumped me, and I just wanted to make out with my best friend to get my mind off it and I get beer poured on me, and now I don't have anything to wear." She cried._

_"You are so drunk." He chuckled._

_She turned to him and crossed her arms. "You're drunk too."_

_"Yes I am." He announced proudly._

_Lydia pouted and turned back to the closet. "Will you unzip me?" He nodded and strolled over to where she stood, her back to him. He helped her gather her hair and swing it over her shoulder so that it wouldn't get tangled._

_Seeing the exposed skin of her neck and shoulder sent his head spinning through the already thick haze of alcohol. His fingers hesitated on the zipper, and Lydia could feel his breath on her neck sending tingles down her spine._

_"S-St-Stiles?" She stuttered, hating herself for not being able to say his name normally. Hating that she was being affected this way. But then...what was he stalling for?_

_"Yeah?" He mumbled, but still made no move for her zipper._

_Lydia closed her eyes as she took in the feeling of him standing there, his body heat radiating off of him, and the way that the air in the room had turned thick. She could almost feel his lips on her neck and she was in that oh-so-awful position of wanting more, but not wanting to move too suddenly and break them out of this moment._

_She tilted her head the tiniest bit to signal to him that it was okay. That she wanted this._

_His right arm snaked around her waist and his lips finally touched the skin of her neck, eliciting a gasp from the strawberry blonde. His left hand began to slowly unzip her dress, and she brought her right hand up to grasp the hand around her waist, letting him know for sure that she wasn't giving off any mixed signals._

_This was different. Different than any other make-out session. Even different than the time(s) they had sex. Usually it was one of them (namely her) telling the other one audibly 'let's make out', and maybe their make out session would leave her feeling lightheaded and dizzy. This time though, just being near him put her head into a fog, and there was no reason to say anything. Maybe it was because they were both dealing with break ups. Maybe she just wanted a distraction- God knows Stiles had been looking for distractions left and right. And somewhere inside of her, she knew that's exactly what she was. But right now, she didn't care._

Lydia laid there waiting for the regret to sink in. Last night was so...heated...so unlike anything they'd ever done before. Did that mean something changed between them? Would they ever be just friends again? Had they just fucked everything up? Lydia winced as as she silently reminded herself 'no pun intended.'

Her hand had come up to rest on top of his, and she felt him tug her closer against him. She couldn't stop the smile that immediately flooded her features.

She decided she was going to roll with whatever happened. At worst, they could play it off as a drunken hook up, and it wasn't like they hadn't had sex before. 'I don't really remember anything anyway,' she practiced in her head.

She sighed and eventually fell back asleep.

When she woke up again, she had rolled over so she was facing the other side of the bed...the  _empty_  other side of the bed.

Okay, she took it back. This was definitely the worst. The worst scenario was that he would sneak off and pretend it never happened. He would assume she was too drunk to remember anything and then ignore the fact that they'd hooked up. She'd become just another notch in Stiles Stilinski's post.

'You were the first notch though,' she silently reminded herself.

"That's not the point." She whispered quietly, and swallowed the lump in her throat. How could he do this? When did he become this person? How could he-

"Oh, hey you're up." She turned her head to her door and saw him standing there, fully dressed aside from his shoes. "I was just getting started on the clean-up process."

She let out a breath which turned into a sob and she immediately covered her face with both of her hands out of embarrassment.

"Whoa, Lyds, are you okay?" He asked softly and came to sit down on the bed next to her.

"I'm sorry." She told him with a strangled laugh/sob and shook her head. She wiped her eyes as she moved her hands. "I just freaked out for a minute."

His face paled, "Why?"

"Because I-" She started to tell him confidently, but then second guessed herself and his reaction. "I..."She said again, softly and slowly. "I thought you left."

He breathed a sigh of relief, and Lydia was able to release the breath she had been holding. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "You tell me." Stiles looked away and Lydia continued. "I mean...I woke up and you weren't here...and you  _were_  here..."

"Is this your way of saying you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know...Is there something to talk about? Because for all I know I-"

Stiles put his finger on her lips to silence her. "Lydia...before you go off on a highly compelling argument about how nothing really happened... I don't...regret...what happened."

"Really?" Her speech was muffled behind his finger.

He chuckled as he moved his hand and nodded. "Really."

"I don't regret it either. I thought I would." She decided honesty was the best way to go. "I laid here for a really long time just waiting to start hating myself, and it never happened." She took a deep breath as she prepared herself to say the other thing that had been on her mind. "You have to admit...it wasn't like...how it normally is...if that makes any sense."

He nodded. "No...I get it. And it's not like we haven't...done  _that_  before...it just wasn't as...planned?"

"Not that much planning went in to anything else we've done..."

"True."

"But, I do get what you mean. It was just...sort of...in the moment."

"Yeah!"

They both went silent for a moment before Lydia finally attempted to say what they both were thinking. "It wasn't...bad."

"No..." He shook his head. "No it wasn't." He took a deep breath before saying, "It was actually... _really_  good."

"Like...  _really, really_  good." Lydia agreed quickly and nodded.

"Right?!"

"I mean... not that last time was bad, but it was-"

"-The first time."

"Exactly."

They got quiet again. Lydia began picking at her fingernails and Stiles was tapping his hands together.

Lydia could feel a slight awkwardness as they sat there.

"I'm still nake-"

"I've noticed." He interrupted her with a nod. Lydia bit back a smile. "Okay, here's a thought." He said, apparently having used the silence to work up the nerve to suggest what was coming.

"Okay..."

"We both just recently got out of relationships."

Lydia waited a moment to see where he was going with that observation. "True?"

He shook his head. "No it's not a true/false thing... it's just a statement..."

"Okay then. Are you going to elaborate or...?"

"Yeah just...okay...you know how before Allison and Aaron, we would do that thing where we would just like..make out sometimes."

"Yes..."

"Okay good." He nodded.

"God, Stiles just say what you're thinking, because I'm having a really hard time following."

"I think we should have sex!" He blurted.

Lydia raised an eyebrow. "But...we did...like...more than once."

"I know..." He took a deep breath. "I meant that, neither of us should be in a relationship right now since we both just got out of one, and God...Lydia...that sex was  _really_  good."

"We've established how awesome the sex was."

"I know! But like.. you don't understand-"

"Then make me understand!"

"Okay, I've been with different girls since Allison and I broke up, and none of them were worth a second time."

"That makes you sound like a man whore."

"The point is, I don't know if it's just because there's so much history with us, but I think we should do that again...and again... like..over and over until we die."

Lydia thought about that for a moment. "Til death do we part? Are we getting married?"

"No?" Stiles didn't quite seem sure of himself either. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I just think that if we decide that we want to have sex with each other, it shouldn't be weird. And it should feel normal and not like we're doing something wrong."

"Are you talking about friends with benefits?"

"Yes!"

"Why the hell didn't you just  _say that_?!"

"I don't know!" He whined as he shook his head, "I just didn't like the way it sounded...I thought it would give the wrong connotation."

Lydia was quiet for a moment as she weighed the options. "Okay..." She said slowly, and Stiles perked up.

"Okay?"

"What are the rules?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean...what can or can't we do? Are we allowed to have sex with other people?"

Stiles pondered that question for a moment, then thoughtfully and slowly he said "No." Lydia raised an eyebrow and he explained, "The purpose of this agreement is to always have someone to have sex with, so we shouldn't need to have sex with anyone else. But like...if one of us is gets in a relationship, then it stops."

Lydia nodded. "Okay, agreed. Follow up question based off of your statement...what if you want sex but I don't?"

"What if  _you_  want sex and ** _I_** don't?"

They looked at each other and both laughed. "That would never happen."

"Definitely not...but uh..on the off chance that either of us aren't feeling it...we'll just...figure something else out...It doesn't always have to be sex though...it could be kissing...or like...hand holding."

"Stiles...the more we talk about this...it sounds like you want to be my boyfriend...but just not call it that."

'No...because...there's no going back from boyfriend.." He put his hands together to show her the imaginary line where 'boyfriend' existed. "There's ex-boyfriend" He moved his left hand to one extreme, then moved his right hand to the other. "Or husband." He brought his hands back together. "Friends with benefits...that's safe."

"I don't know about safe." She looked down, then lifted her eyes to look at Stiles. "But...the sex is really good."

"It's  _so_  good." He agreed.

"Okay," she smiled. "Friends with benefits." She held her hand out to shake on it.

"Seriously?" He asked as he slowly raised his hand to meet hers. "We're going to do this?"

"Yes, now shake my hand before I change my mind."

Stiles quickly grabbed her hand and shook it enthusiastically. Lydia laughed and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Um..." She bit her lip. "You realize I'm still nake-"

"I literally haven't stopped thinking about it this entire time."

She giggled, still nibbling on her lip. "You know...we were pretty trashed last night. Maybe it wasn't as good as we're remembering it."

He raised an eyebrow. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying...we just entered an exclusive contract...I mean...we  _shook_  on it...what if it was all based on a fluke?"

"Are you suggesting we test our great sex hypothesis?"

"I'm saying, I'm already naked... so..."

* * *

"Fuck!" Lydia collapsed on top of Stiles, and both were out of breath. He chuckled as he tucked a piece behind her ear. She let out a breathy laugh, "Not a fluke."

"Definitely not a fluke," He agreed. She bit her lip before meeting his lips with hers. They kissed for a few moments, lips moving slowly and sensually, until Lydia suddenly pulled away.

"We probably shouldn't tell anybody about this."

"Oh..God no."

They were definitely on the same page.

 


	26. Chaos Rising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... hey guys! I'm really sorry about the delay. I got distracted by the holidays and writing my 25 Days of Stydia Christmas series. Also, I can already tell you, I've been away from this story for far too long, so it may take a minute to get back into the flow. So, I really appreciate your patience! I hope you enjoy this chapter despite its brevity.

“I found another one.” Lydia said as she lifted a red solo cup from off of a shelf.

  


“Really? You mean that wasn't always there as like a talking piece or something?” Stiles asked from the other side of the room where he held the large trash bag. “Because I could have sworn that area was spotless before.”

  


Lydia laughed. “No, you missed it.” Lydia made a move to walk toward him, but he stopped her.

  


“No wait!” He held the bag open in front of him. “Toss it in.”

  


Lydia rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She took a deep breath then let the cup sail through the air and...bounce off of Stiles's head.

  


Lydia covered her mouth as she failed in an attempt to stifle her laughter.

  


“Really?” Stiles shook his head as he picked the cup up off the ground and threw it into the bag.

  


“Sorry.” Lydia smiled as she continued to tidy up her side of the room. “So, uh...” she began after a moment. “How's Scott? You know...since he found out Malia...”

  


Stiles shook his head. “I haven't seen him. He's been holed up in his room for a few days.” He shrugged. “Then again, maybe that's my fault. I haven't exactly been there.” He thought about that statement and added, “Physically or emotionally.”

  


“It can be tough sometimes,” Lydia reasoned. Stiles gave a small shrug and Lydia began to think about the reason that Stiles hadn't been around his brother. And that made her feel nervous. She knew she needed to talk to him. She'd never really _had_ to have this talk with anyone. And he was her best friend...which actually made it more awkward.

  


“Lydia?”

  


“Hm?” She looked up and met his eyes, as he stared at her.

  


“You look like you're panicking. What's wrong?”

  


“Nothing,” she told him unconvincingly.

  


“Lydia...”

  


“Um...okay.” She covered her face as she winced. “This is an awkward conversation to have...but it's one that needs to happen.”

  


“Even more awkward than the 'do you want to be friends with benefits' conversation we had a couple of hours ago?” Lydia gave him a glare, and he straightened up. “Oh...okay? What is it?”

  


“How...” she started, before biting her lip and shaking her head. “How many...girls...would you say that you...had....you know....”

  


“Oh...um...well... I guess that really depends on what it is that you want to know...”

  


“How many were you...” she cringed at the word, “intimate...with.”

  


“Again....it depends on your connotation of the word intima-”

  


“How many did you stick your dick inside of?!” she blurted before blushing and covering her face again. “I mean... for me...” she began while her face was still covered, but slowly lowered her hands, “It's only two... you and Aaron.” She took a deep breath. “So... how many is it for you?”

  


“Uh...” he began, and made a face as he was calculating in his head. “A few more than that...”

  


“How many more though?”

  


“Why do you want to know?”

  


“I just want to know how many came before me....and _after_ me.”

  


“Oh. Don't worry. They _all_ came.”

  


“Oh God!” She wasn't sure if she wanted to cover her face or her ears. Mainly she just wanted to dig a giant hole and bury herself in it. “Stiles, just answer the question.”

  


He sighed. “I don't know....five....six maybe?”

  


She released a breath she was holding in. Okay...that wasn't as bad of a number as she was building up in her head, but still...”I think you should get tested.”

  


“To see if I'm a genius?” he offered with a sarcastic smirk.

  


“No, _Genius_ to see if you have any diseases that you could pass on to me.”

  


“I always use a condom, Lydia,” he tried to reassure her.

  


“That's great. As you should. I would still feel more comfortable if you got tested.”

  


“Well, if I have to do it...then I think you should do it too.”

  


“Fine. I will.”

  


“Fine.”

  


“Good.” Lydia watched as his tongue quickly darted over his bottom lip, and for a moment all she wanted was to have his lips on hers, until she remembered the conversation they were just having. “And I don't think we should have sex again until we get the results.”

  


“Then let's go right now.” He said quickly, dropping his trash bag and grabbing her wrist taking large strides toward the door and Lydia had to practically run to keep up with him.

  


She couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up due to his eagerness. “You do realize that it'll still take a few days to get results, right?”

  


“Well, the sooner we do the tests, the sooner we find out.”

  


 

* * *

 

  


“Why did you guys come to me?” Scott asked his friends as they sat in the living room. “Why didn't you go to Derek? He probably knows more about the werewolf stuff than me.”

  


“Because Malia trusted you.” Erica told him.

  


“You were always her second.” Boyd added.

  


“Plus, “Isaac began. “You're a lot nicer than Derek.”

  


Scott shook his head as he held back a laugh.

  


“Scott?” his mom said, as she peeked her head around the corner. “Dad called.” She held her phone out and Scott walked over to grab it from her.

  


“Hello?”

  


“Hey...so...I know you've been a little under the weather recently, but I think you should know...we just got a call about another body. It's the same as the kid that Lydia found a while back. I know that somebody else should know, I just don't know who to tell...so I'm telling you.”

  


Scott looked back at his friends...his pack.

  


“Thanks, Dad. I'll take care of it.” He stood up straighter and the other three looked back him.

  


“Another body?” Boyd asked having overheard the conversation.

  


“But,” Erica started, “I thought that the alpha pack left town.”

  


“I thought they did too,” Scott told them. “At least that's what-” he stopped short and took a slow, deep breath. “That's what Malia said..”

  


“So, what do we do?” Isaac asked.

  


Scott shrugged. “I guess we go check out a body.”

 


	27. Fireflies

“Dad!” Scott called to the sheriff as he approached the scene... Erica, Isaac, and Boyd close behind him.

  
  


“Scott? You came.”

  
  


The wolf gave the sheriff a small shrug. “Nobody else was going to. I brought backup.” Scott motioned to the members of his pack, but Stilinski was looking over Scott's head.

  
  


“I can see that,” he said with a nod. “Is that your boss?”

  
  


Scott turned to see Deaton walking toward them with a small kit, then turned back to his dad and nodded. “Yeah. I called him. He's familiar with this kind of thing. I thought he could help us.”

  
  


“I see....” Stilinski said slowly as Deaton approached the small group. “Deaton, good to see you.” The sheriff tilted his head. “This way, fellas.” Erica cleared her throat. “Oh and um..ladies.”

  
  


Isaac scoffed. “Well that's a bit of a stretch.”

  
  


Erica glared and let out a low growl.

  
  


“Guys!” Scott raised his voice and Erica and Isaac quickly backed down. The sheriff said nothing after the exchange. He just walked away and the group followed him.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Lydia gasped suddenly and sat straight up in her bed.

  
  


“You okay?” she heard Stiles mumble next to her. They'd fallen asleep watching a scary movie, but now it seemed that movie was the cause of her waking up.

  
  


“Sorry...just a nightmare,” she told him and settled back onto the bed, an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  
  


She felt him roll over next to her and an arm came around her and pulled her close. “Do you want to talk about it?” he whispered.

  
  


Lydia shook her head 'no' and bit her lip. She hadn't even realized she was crying until a sob suddenly escaped her chest.

  
  


“Hey,” Stiles said gently as he sat up, reaching over her to turn her bedside lamp on. Lydia sat up again, pulling her knees close to her body. “What's going on?” he asked, concerned, as he rubbed her back soothingly.

  
  


“I...” she tried, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. “I had a dream that someone was dying.” She sniffled and swallowed before continuing, “But I don't think it was a dream.”

  
  


Lydia looked back at Stiles before laying her head on his shoulder.

  
  


“It was just a nightmare,” he whispered and kissed the top of her forehead. They didn't move for several minutes and Stiles was beginning to feel his eyelids grow heavy again. “I should probably get home.”

  
  


“No,” Lydia lifted her head to look at him. Her lips formed words, but she said nothing. Until finally...”Stay.” Stiles was gazing so softly at her, and she wondered if she looked as vulnerable as she felt. “I....I just...” _I need you. I don't want to be alone. I want you to hold me and not let me go._  Those were the things she wanted to say to him. Those were the things she kept inside. “Just...stay.”

  
  


Stiles nodded gently. “I won't go anywhere.”

  
  


“Thank you,” Lydia said so softly that Stiles wasn't sure if the words had actually been voiced or if she'd just mouthed them.

  
  


They laid back down on their sides, never looking away from each other, as a heavy tension settled between the two of them.

  
  


Stiles finally cracked a smile, “I wish I could change into some other clothes.”

  
  


“Maybe you should bring clothes with you to leave here,” she suggested.

  
  


“And you could bring clothes to leave at my house.”

  
  


Lydia nodded. “I'd like that.”

  
  


Stiles realized suddenly that he had been playing with her hands, and he wasn't sure how long that had been happening. He glanced from their hands to her lips and saw her teeth come out to pull her lower lip back into her mouth.

  
  


Lydia grabbed his hand with hers and rolled over to face away from him, pulling his arm around her. She heard him laugh through his nose behind her as she snuggled back into him.

  
  


He looked toward the lamp that was still on and thought momentarily about reaching up to turn it off, but he was just so comfortable. His eyes scanned the bedside table and caught sight of a picture of the two of them. It was the one he'd forced her to take after she'd drunkenly taken her Santa hat off and plopped it onto his head. He had seen it earlier but never mentioned it. “You framed the picture,” he said after a couple of seconds.

  
  


“And put it on my bedside table. That was the deal...was it not?”

  
  


'No, it was. It just..." He paused, not sure if he should say what he was thinking, but then decided to go for it. "It makes me happy.”

  
  


Lydia felt herself smile as she stared at the picture. “It makes me happy too.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


Scott was standing at the kitchen counter. His hands were on either side of his head, as he stared down at his phone. It had been a long night, and he'd barely slept a wink. Deaton was supposed to be getting back to him, and Scott had nothing better to do... so he was waiting.

  
  


The front door opened and Scott looked up. Stiles stepped through, laughing at something Lydia had said as the strawberry blonde followed him inside. Stiles finally made eye contact with Scott and the two stared at each other for a moment.

  
  


“Hey,” Stiles finally broke the silence.

  
  


“Hey,” Scott replied hesitantly.

  
  


“Hey, Scott,” Lydia whispered after a moment, sensing the tension between the brothers.

  
  


“Lydia...” Scott finally turned to her. He realized this was the first time she'd voluntarily spoken to him to since the full moon made him crazy and he'd kissed her and...well he didn't really want to think about that. “How are you?” Scott asked her.

  
  


”I'm okay.” She smiled softly. “Aaron and I broke up.”

  
  


“I'm sorry.”

  
  


“It's fine,” she told him with a shrug.

  
  


Scott's phone began to ring and he picked up quickly, “Hello?” Stiles and and Lydia began to walk away, when they heard Scott say, “Dad? Another one?” They stopped in their tracks and exchanged glances with each other. “Yeah, I'll meet you there.”

  
  


“What's going on?” Stiles asked as Scott hung up.

  
  


“A body...they found one yesterday and it looks like they found another one today.”

  
  


“Can we come?” Lydia asked. Scott raised his eyebrow, shocked. “It's just... I had a dream last night that somebody died....and I need to know that it was just a dream.”

  
  


“Uh...yeah? I guess. I don't see why not.”

  
  


“We can take the jeep,” Stiles suggested.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“Scott!” the sheriff called as he saw the beta walking toward him, then he paused. “Stiles? Lydia? What are you two doing here?”

  
  


“Hey, Dad...” Stiles began. “We just...” Stiles trailed off as Lydia walked straight past the sheriff." Uh..."

  
  


“Wait, Lydia,” Noah turned around. “Where are you going?”

  
  


“It was a girl wasn't it?” Lydia asked as she turned back to the sheriff. “Brown hair?”

  
  


The sheriff nodded slowly. “Yeah...how'd you know?”

  
  


Lydia sniffled and covered her mouth, as she looked at Stiles, giving him a small nod.

  
  


“Lyds,” he said her name softly and she walked back over to him and fell into his embrace, sobbing into his chest as he pet her hair. “Shhh...”

  
  


Stilinski seemed rather confused, as he looked back and forth between his sons, before Scott tilted his head away from the scene.

  
  


“What's going on?” his dad asked, once they were out of earshot.

  
  


“She had a dream that someone died...she was hoping it wasn't real.”

  
  


“So, what? Is she like...psychic?”

  
  


Scott shrugged. “I don't know. I don't think  _she_  knows.”

  
  


Stilinski nodded. “Okay..well,” he looked back up at Stiles and Lydia and saw they weren't moving. “Follow me.” The sheriff led Scott under the crime scene tape and over to the body that was slumped against the tree.

  
  


“Jesus,” Scott cringed and turned away.

  
  


“Deaton still doesn't know what's causing it?”

  
  


Scott shook his head. “No...at least, if he does, he's not telling me.” Scott finally turned back to look at the girl.

  
  


“Are we sure it's not just a deranged serial killer?”

  
  


Stilinski and Scott turned around to see Stiles had made his way over.

  
  


“How'd you get past-” the sheriff began, but stopped and shook his head. “Never mind.” He took a deep breath and continued, “I don't know. It's possible...but... with all of the new information I've been enlightened with, I'm second guessing everything. Who knows though...maybe it was a regular... albeit, psychopathic... human.”

  
  


“Do you know her name?” Scott asked his dad.

  
  


“Emily...uh...Is Lydia okay?”

  
  


Stiles looked back at the strawberry blonde who was hugging herself as she leaned against the jeep.

  
  


“No,” Stiles shook his head and turned back to face his father. “She's freaked. I should probably get her out of here. Is there anything we can do?”

  
  


“Well..Emily wasn't alone. There was another girl, Caitlyn. She said she saw a giant lizard, but then she also admitted to splitting a tab of X with her girlfriend, so she may have just been hallucinating. But...if you want to check into her giant lizard story...I sent her to the hospital.”

  
  


Stiles nodded then turned back to his brother. “Are you good? Do you need a ride somewhere?”

  
  


Scott shook his head. “I'm going to sniff around here a bit, then maybe head over to Deaton's... see where he's at...if he needs my help.”

  
  


“Okay...let me know if either of you need me.”

  
  


“We will,” the sheriff promised.

 

* * *

  
  


As Stiles approached Lydia again, he took a deep breath. “I'm going to go to the hospital.”

  
  


“What? Why?” Lydia asked, mostly in confusion.

  
  


He sighed. “The girl...Emily? She had her girlfriend, Caitlyn, with her when she was attacked.”

  
  


“You mean...she wasn't alone?”

  
  


“It looks that way.” Stiles looked down at Lydia's hands and saw the way she was nervously wringing them together. He stopped himself from reaching out to grab them and continued, “I'll just take you home-”

  
  


“No.” Lydia shook her head vehemently. “I'm coming with you.”

  
  


Stiles stared for a moment before nodding. “Alright. Get in.”

 


	28. Unleashed

Neither of them said much when they first left the crime scene.

  


Stiles just kept wanting to ask her if she was okay and if she really wanted to go with him. He knew he shouldn't though. She'd already answered both of those questions, and Lydia wasn't one to change her mind on a whim. If anything, asking her would just piss her off.

  


Lydia was the first one to break the silence. “I'm going to take some classes at the community college over the summer.”

  


“You are?” Stiles asked, glancing at her a moment before looking back to the road.

  


“Yeah. I thought maybe I could graduate early if I have enough credits.”

  


'Oh....when do your classes start?”

  


“Next week.” She looked over at him and smiled for the first time since learning about the body. “Don't act so depressed, Stilinski! There's only two and they're first thing in the morning. I'll be done by noon everyday. You probably won't even be awake. You won't even realize I'm gone.”

  


Stiles felt the corners of his mouth upturn. “You say that like I'll know where you are the night before.”

  


Lydia felt a blush creep into her cheeks before deciding to roll with it. “I'm just saying, I feel like these classes could be stressful...and you know what a great stress reliever is? Sex....That's what this arrangement is for. Is it not?”

  


Stiles bit his tongue and nodded slowly. “Yes. You're absolutely right.”

  


The smile and flirtatious attitude from Lydia evaporated the moment they pulled into the hospital parking lot.

  


“Lydia...” Stiles said her name slowly.

  


“Let's do this.”

  


* * *

  


  


“I'm here to see my mom,” Stiles told the nurse at the desk when they walked in. He figured if he could find her, Melissa could get them access to the patient.

  


“Stiles?” Stiles heard his name, and looked over at the girl in the wheelchair.

  


“Caitlyn?” Stiles questioned, before everything clicked. “Oh my God! You were in the woods...are you okay?”

  


“I guess I'm as okay as can be expected,” she shrugged.

  


“Sorry, we need to get you back in bed,” the nurse pushing her wheelchair interrupted.

  


“You can come in,” Caitlyn told Stiles as she motioned her hand to follow them. Stiles looked at Lydia as Caitlyn disappeared into her room. They were both slightly surprised at how easy that had been.

  


“Uh,” Stiles began as he turned back to the nurse. “Don't worry about finding my mom. I'll catch up with her later.” He tilted his head toward Caitlyn's room and Lydia nodded as the two of them began to walk that way.

  


The nurse was walking out as the two of them were walking in.

  


“So, what were you doing in a wheelchair...are you okay?”

  


“I was getting a CT Scan. It's just standard procedure.”

  


“A CT Scan?” Lydia asked. “Did you hit your head?”

  


Caitlyn shrugged. “They think I may have. I...I told the police that I saw a giant lizard.”

  


“Did you?” Stiles asked, then clarified. “Um...I mean...did you see a lizard?”

  


Caitlyn sighed. “That's what it looked like. I don't know...we split a tab of X. Maybe I was hallucinating...or maybe it was a mask.” Caitlyn got a faraway look in her eye, and bit her lip. “I walked away for 5 seconds. When I came back, I felt something hit the back of my neck and all of a sudden, I couldn't move.”

  


“Like...out of fear?” Lydia asked.

  


“No, like I'd been paralyzed. I fell to the ground and that's when I saw this lizard thing dragging Emily off.”

  


“Was she...already...”Stiles didn't know how to ask.

  


“You mean was she already dead?” Stiles nodded, and Caitlyn shook her head. “No...she looked at me, and said 'help'...but I couldn't do anything.” She began to cry and Stiles reached his hand out to place on the top of hers.

  


Lydia realized she was glaring at them and cleared her throat. “Um...what were you guys doing out in the woods anyway?”

  


Caitlyn shrugged. “It was officially summer vacation and we were going to camp...you know...by ourselves...alone.” Caitlyn sighed. “She's never...been...with anyone before.” She swallowed. “I guess now she'll never be.”

  


Stiles looked over at Lydia, and that's when she realized she'd subconsciously reached for him, grabbing onto the thin fabric of his shirt. She wasn't sure why she'd done it. Maybe it was hearing Caitlyn talk about her girlfriend in the past tense that made her grateful that Stiles was still here. Her best friend. Or maybe it was the talk of first times that made her reach for hers. She didn't know. She slowly removed her hand, almost embarrassed. With the way she'd caught herself reacting to Caitlyn and Stiles, she didn't want either of them to think she was trying to assert her position as Stiles's...whatever... because she wasn't...and they weren't actually dating-per their agreement.

  


Lydia slowly turned away, but felt Stiles's hand wrap around her own and she looked down.

  


“We'll let you get some rest,” Stiles told Caitlyn.

  


“I'm sorry for your loss,” Lydia told her softly.

  


“Thank you,” Caitlyn managed a small smile.

  


Stiles and Lydia walked out of the room, and before either could say anything, Melissa, who was standing at the desk, turned around. “Stiles!”

  


“Mom!” Stiles replied, and began to take a few steps toward her.

  


“Lydia!” Lydia turned her head to see Aubrey walking toward them, and the strawberry blonde took a few steps toward her, letting Stiles's hand go in the process.

  


“Were you looking for me?” Lydia heard Melissa ask her son, but didn't hear his response because that was the moment Aubrey caught up with her.

  


“Sweetie, Aaron told me what happened. I'm so sorry. My son is an idiot. Are you okay?”

  


Lydia chuckled. “I'm fine, Aubrey. Really. You know...Aaron needed to be single. I don't think the long distance thing would have worked out. It's probably better to break up in person now than over the phone later. You know?”

  


“Yeah...”Aubrey said slowly. “You know...you're being surprisingly calm about all of this...”

  


“Am I not normally calm?” Lydia, asked semi-frantically.

  


“No! That's not what I meant... it's just... The way he told me about it... he made it sound like you were really upset. That's all. But it's good you're not!”

  


Lydia shrugged. “I mean.. I was when it first happened, but...I've thought about it, and I really liked Aaron, but I didn't love him...you know? I mean... I think I wanted to love him, but you can't force yourself to feel that way about people. Right?”

  


Aubrey nodded slowly. “Well, I'm glad you're okay.”

  


“Thanks, Aubrey,” Lydia smiled.

  


“Lyds!” Stiles called and Lydia turned back to look at him. He tilted his head toward the door, telling her he was headed out.

  


“My ride's leaving,” Lydia told Aubrey as she turned back to her.

  


“Oh, okay...yeah...let me know if you need anything.”

  


“Will do!” Lydia told her cheerily before quickly trying to catch up with Stiles.

  


 

* * *

 

  


“What were you talking to Aubrey about?” Stiles asked as they walked out of the hospital.

  


“Nothing really...she was just asking how I was doing post-break up.”

  


“Ahh...”

  


“Yeah...what were you telling your mom about?”

  


Lydia hadn't seen the phone in Stiles's hand until that moment. “The same thing I'm about to tell my dad about,” he said as he put the phone to his ear. “Hey, Dad. Lydia and I are leaving the hospital right now. We spoke to Caitlyn. She said she was paralyzed...Emily was too...yeah... I'm thinking maybe you should tell Deaton, or let Scott tell him. Find out if there's something that can do that...maybe even something that looks like a lizard.” Stiles nodded, even though his dad couldn't see it. “Yeah, you're welcome.... Love you too.” He hung up the phone and put it away.

  


“So...Caitlyn...” Lydia began after a moment. “Wasn't she one of your rebound girls?”

  


“Yeah...it lasted for a couple of weeks.”

  


Lydia nodded slowly. “I never really saw her face. You were always too busy sucking it off when I'd pass you.”

  


Stiles raised an eyebrow and turned to face her. “Am I sensing jealousy?”

  


“No!” she said quickly.

  


Stiles let out a laugh as he threw his arm around her shoulders. “Yeah...okay.”

  


Lydia bit her lip, debating whether or not she wanted to ask the question in the forefront of her mind.”Um...how was she?” Stiles turned back to her. “I mean... was she...you know...”

  


“Better than you?” he supplied. Lydia felt a blush creep into her cheeks. “No,” he said softly. “No one's better than you.”

  


“Not even Allison?” she didn't know why she asked. She horrified herself that she'd even entertain the thought. Stiles stopped walking and he stared wide-eyed. “I'm sorry,” she quickly apologized. “Forget I said anything,” she told him, then briskly walked ahead.


End file.
